The Los Angeles Lakers may be trying to pull another rabbit out of their hats.
The Lakers are going to be targeting Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic once their ownership situation gets resolved, longtime team beat writer Anthony Irwin reported this week. Irwin notes that, once the ownership drama is in the rearview mirror for the Lakers, “a lot” of the organization’s eyes will be “dead-set” on Denver.
This news comes with the Nuggets going through a bit of turmoil right now. After winning the NBA title in 2023, Denver has not made it past the second round since then and just exited in Round 1 last season after losing in six games to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Meanwhile, Denver also just parted ways with key young forward Peyton Watson in a multi-team sign-and-trade deal earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the three-time league MVP Jokic, 31, is entering his final guaranteed year under contract next season at $59 million. Jokic can test free agency in 2027 by declining a $62.8 million player option for the next year, putting Denver in a position where they might have to consider the unfathomable scenario of trading away the big man.
The Lakers, for their part, are probably feeling confident in their chances because of Jokic’s relationship with his fellow European superstar Luka Doncic. The two players are very close friends, and Jokic himself once even said that he was open to the possibility of teaming up with Doncic.
Of course, this still feels like a total pipe dream for the Lakers given that they have no more future first-round draft picks left to trade after sending their unprotected 2031 and 2033 picks to the Utah Jazz as part of their July sign-and-trade for center Walker Kessler. The Lakers currently only have future pick swaps left to offer (at least until their 2034 first-rounder becomes eligible for trade in summer 2027). But clearly their dream is to somehow pull off a blockbuster move for the triple-double machine Jokic.
