But at least the way one of his former Denver Nuggets teammates tells the story, Jokic's basketball career was almost over three years ago. On the Straight Game Podcast, DeMarcus Cousins shared the story that Jokic nearly retired in 2022 rather than sign his supermax extension with Denver. Jokic was 27 at the time.

Nikola Jokic isn't joining the Lakers and LeBron James isn't signing with the Nuggets. A yacht meeting instead was about starting an international basketball league.