Tick … tock … tick … tock …

The Nikola Jokic clock tick’s heavily in the Ball Arena executive suites.

Stan and Josh Kroenke are feeling something they have never experienced in the 25 years Stan has outright owned professional sports teams: The immense pressure of having an NBA team with an undeniable superstar who is the best player in the world.

There is absolutely nothing like the pressure to win that comes with a superstar. It is unique to the NBA because of small roster sizes and the nature of the sport. Literally one player can lift and increase the value of a sports franchise in the NBA in a way that is almost stunning in it’s capacity. If you don’t believe me check out the value of the Denver Nuggets in 2015 as compared to 2025. Lets be honest with ourselves and say that inflation is only part of that increased value story; considering the Nuggets are in a 26 year old arena, weren’t able to be seen by a majority of Denver for 6 years and crucially lag well behind the rest of the league with no state of the art practice facility.

The power of Nikola Jokic and becoming a championship team … two years ago.

The pressure is there and you sort of got the inkling that Josh Kroenke was beginning to feel the superstar weight when Michael Malone and Calvin Booth were fired on April 8th but even then it was (too) belated. However, allowing that to fester with his executive and his coach is something that deserves far more criticism than it got. Even then, it was less about Jokic and more about the toxic culture that festered in the executive suites at Ball Arena.

The question we have to ask ourselves is if KSE and by extension Stan and Josh Kroenke really truly feel the responsibility of having an NBA superstar? Or does KSE sticking to its principals (Cap at the second apron, up and coming executives as first time GM’s) mean they want to win … but only on their preexisting terms?

What separates the 2025 Denver Nuggets from past big Executive/coach decisions of the Kroenke ownership era is the looming specter of an established and beyond question supernova superstar. Yes, Nikola Jokic won two MVP’s by the time the last executive change was made in 2022 but Jokic wasn’t the unquestioned best player in the league with a title and another MVP under his belt. Jokic is in a stratosphere that is rare for even NBA superstars.

The fear is that the Kroenke’s can pay lip service to understanding what they owe to Jokic but not fully GET it because of their diversified sports portfolio and extremely divided attention. The moment right now is as pivotal and crucial as we have experienced in Denver sports history. The Nikola Jokic clock is very much ticking and comments on if this Nuggets team could be a contender like “We didn’t, so obviously we can’t. If we could, we would win it” hang in Ball Arena like the smell of rendered beef in Greeley.

KSE has a huge decision in front of them about the direction the franchise will move. Yes, the Nuggets could proceed next year with zero changes because Calvin Booth left the cupboard bare of their second-round picks and they don’t even have a first round pick this year (due to the Aaron Gordon trade). The Nuggets are also facing a fairly sizable repeater tax bill once the league year flips on July 1st. Will Stan Kroenke eat the repeater tax for a team that has been a second-round exit for consecutive seasons? Like it or not, this is a big part of the calculus.

What has been absent in all of the discussions about the Nuggets future is how ownership intends to maintain the winning besides riding Jokic like a circus elephant until his legs fall off. That’s not feeling the pressure. The nature of the new CBA is restrictive, but you would believe that the Kroenke’s were aware of these restrictions considering they own the team and presumably sit on the board of governors meetings.

Arguably the biggest decision the Nuggets and KSE have faced in many years is the next head of the front office. While the changeover from Connelly to Booth initially was unequivocally a win on the court (in the form of the teams first ever title) it also contained a feud that came close to tearing apart the entire organization. Booth inherited Malone. He was an internal promotion and therefore kept in line with the KSE philosophy. The problem is, as pointed out above and by others, this ain’t your mother’s Nuggets with the relatively low pressure. As Calvin Booth AND Michael Malone learned, heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Tick…tock…

The Nuggets have been crownless for two seasons because of decisions made the last three seasons.

Will KSE keep with their tradition or will they shift course knowing that Nikola Jokic superstar clock is ticking? The truth is, time is short and Nikola Jokic is not guaranteed forever. Every decision made by the Nuggets from now on sets the future of the Jokic era which might be much shorter than we all want it to be once that clock starts ticking.

Tick tock…tick tock…

The question is: Are Stan and Josh Kroenke aware of the clock and what is their plan to do something about it?

Tick…tock…tick…tock…tick…tock…tick………………