The Los Angeles Lakers are the odds-on favorites to land Nikola Jokic if he leaves Denver in the wake of Nuggets coaching and front office shakeup.
The Nuggets have fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth on Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.
Immediately, Bovada has installed the Lakers as +500 favorites to become Jokic’s next team, per NBA Central.
Two Servian teams KK Mega Basket (+600) and KK Joker (+800) have the second and third-best odds.
The other NBA teams who landed on the list are Toronto Raptors (+1000), Los Angeles Clippers (+1200), Golden State Warriors (+1800), Oklahoma City Thunder (+2500), Brooklyn Nets (+2800), Miami Heat (+2800) and Orlando Magic (+5000).
Jokithe c and Lakers new star Luka Dončić are close friends.
Nuggets Star First to Reach Out to Luka After Trade
The Nuggets star was among the first NBA players who reached out to Doncic when the Dallas Mavericks shockingly traded him to the Lakers.
“I texted him,” Jokic told reporters on Feb. 4. “He felt it, of course. I think he didn’t expect it, of course. I think he just needs to be with family right now, it’s a big move. It’s a business, I don’t know. I think nobody expected it, especially him. I think nobody is safe in the league. But I think he’s going to do a good job. I think he’s the player for a big scene, even though I thought in Dallas he had something special going.”
The Nuggets’ deicison to let go of Malone and Booth with three games left before the playoffs was as shocking as the Doncic trade.
Nuggets Owner on Shocking Decision
Denver Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke said in a statement that the decision to fire both head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth was not done in haste.
“It is with no pleasure that we announce that we have relieved Michael Malone of his head coaching duties, effectively immediately. David Adelman will assume our head coaching role for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere,” Kroenke’s statement read.
Malone, who beat the Lakers twice in the playoffs over the last two seasons, will leave the Nuggets as the winningest coach in franchise history with a 471-327 record.
The Lakers are 1 1/2 game ahead of the Nuggets for the No. 3 seed.
Jokic is in the second season of a five-year, $276 million supermax contract he signed in 2022.
Jokic is in the running for his fourth MVP against Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The three-time MVP is averaging a triple-double this season: 30.0points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists — better than his numbers last season.
The Lakers currently do not have a starting-caliber center. They have to gut their roster if Jokic becomes available.
However, the Nuggets have not indicated that Jokic is available. It will take a trade request from Jokic for the Lakers to have a chance to pair him with Doncic.
