Following the Denver Nugget’s 2023 NBA championship Nikola Jokic gained some spotlight. He has widely earned the title of ‘the best player in the league.’ For the last 7 years of his NBA journey, he has earned a name for his premium passing skills.
Not only that but because of his playmaking and defense, he is considered an overall offensive player in the league. Although defense is the weak point of Nikola Jokic. If we overlook this limitation, he is the best positional player in the NBA.
Nikola Jokic has burned his midnight oil to offer the championship on a silver platter to his maiden team. But despite his unwavering loyalty and undeniable contributions, Jokic’s salary has never fully reflected his immense value to the team.
Even though Nikola Jokic has repeatedly outperformed his contract, it is evident that the Denver Nuggets are bound to maintain a salary slab, even for the rising NBA superstar.
There were speculations around the topic, claiming that Jokic was a non-existent rim protector and also a traffic cone on the perimeter. But it took Nikola Jokic only a single match to prove all these NBA talking heads wrong.
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Nikola Jokic Salary: Not Able to Match the Legend’s Performance
When the NBA intellectuals were claiming that it would be impossible to build a championship-caliber defense around him, he was busy practicing. To everyone’s astonishment, his defense didn’t even take a minor hit in the playoffs. Nikola Jokic has active hands and can get any part of his body into the passing lanes.
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Even after all these achievements, his paycheck from the Denver Nuggets amounted to $33.1 million, while his actual net worth was as high as a whopping $70.1 million. While enjoying the limelight, Nikola Jokic was 8th among qualifiers in the NBA in deflections per game. He also registered a number of ‘foot deflections, aka kicked balls.
He has a record of 47 kicked balls in 2022–23, which appears to beat the score of 27 other NBA teams. This made the media realize how undervalued a player Nikola Jokic is. When you tally up the underpayments over his eight-year tenure, the figure of $116,094,751 comes to light.
The commitment of Nikola Jokic to the Denver Nuggets goes beyond the numbers on his paycheck. His exponential performance earned him the title of NBA Finals MVP. His on-court statistics speak for his brilliant command, with an impressive average of 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for three consecutive seasons. In this season alone, he has registered an amazing tally of 9.8 assists per game.
A journey full of loyalty and devotion, for the team and for the club, is what Nikola Jokic is known for. His underpayment throughout his career is a startling reminder that, despite his top-notch performance, he has yet to receive his due.
