Jokic, Beal agree to monster contracts

Nikola Jokic went from No. 41 draft pick, to two-time MVP, and now the holder of the largest contract in NBA history.

Jokic and the Denver Nuggets agreed Thursday to a $264 supermax extension, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the player nor team announced the agreement.

It begins with the 2023-24 season and continues through 202728 — when, if Jokic exercises his option for that season, he could make roughly $60 million.

The Serbian star has had a meteoric rise in his seven NBA seasons, all with the Nuggets. He became an All-Star in his fourth season and has stayed at that level since, plus won MVP in each of the last two seasons after averaging 26.4 points in 2020-21 and 27.1 points this past season.

And the MVP votes haven’t exactly been close; Jokic has been atop roughly 75% of the ballots cast for that award over the last two seasons.

Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards have agreed on a five-year contract that could pay him as much as $251 million — one of the largest contracts in NBA history.

Beal’s announcement was made by his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports. The decision came almost immediately after this season’s NBA free agent negotiating window opened Thursday, and is a max-value deal.

There have been other contracts with a bit higher value: Damian Lillard’s most recent extension in Portland three years ago pushed his existing contract value to $257 million, for example, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic is expected to soon sign a supermax extension of his own that will be worth around $260 million.

Beal’s isn’t an extension, but a separate contract since he became a free agent by opting out of a $36.4 million contract for this coming season on Wednesday. He did that with the supermax deal from the Wizards clearly in mind, and the sides wasted no time making that happen.