In this summer of star player movement, where Giannis Antetokounmpo and LaMelo Ball have already been on the move and there are likely more moves to come, Nikola Jokić has officially entered the conversation.Even if his inclusion ultimately proves to be premature.In the wake of Marc Stein and Jake Fischer’s report on Saturday that the Denver Nuggets superstar is considering not signing an extension this summer, there was instant speculation about what it might mean. After all, the three-time NBA MVP has just one guaranteed season left on his contract and now finds himself in the same contractual situation as Antetokounmpo before his lack of a commitment compelled the Milwaukee Bucks to trade him to the Miami Heat. (Jokić has a player option worth $62.8 million for the 2027-28 season.)Yet while that chatter will likely continue until there’s another long-term commitment from the 31-year-old, team sources tell The Athletic that Jokić is still signaling a desire to remain in the Mile High City past his current contract. Those sources, granted anonymity to speak candidly on the matter, say the Nuggets still have a great deal of confidence that Jokić’s stated plan to be “a Nugget forever” that was shared in late April remains intact.Still, this situation will be worth monitoring until there’s some sort of final, formal resolution about Jokić’s future.It was one thing when Jokić declined to do an extension last summer, as there was a gap of approximately $80 million (and one additional year) between the deal he could have signed then and the one available this summer. But this time around, as Jokić surely knows, the prospect of him not signing an extension again is the sort of thing that would make rival teams more hopeful that he was considering an exit.The Nuggets are not allowed to discuss the extension with Jokić until July 6 and, per team sources, don’t yet have clarity about how he will handle it. In the interim, front-office co-heads Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer are focused on improving a team that fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round in late April. More specifically, league sources say, the Nuggets are on the lookout for another creative ballhandler.NBA Player Tiers 2026: Who made Tier 1?Law Murray and Jeshua KiddBut there is a fascinating financial factor to consider, too, as Denver wants to re-sign restricted free agent forward Peyton Watson and has been widely expected to shed salary in order to make that move more feasible. Denver also wants to re-sign 25-year-old small forward Spencer Jones. However, team sources say that there has been no mandate from Nuggets ownership to cut costs. As such, it remains to be seen how aggressively — or perhaps delicately — the Nuggets move forward.To teams like the Nuggets that have previously proven to be championship-caliber, the Boston Celtics’ situation serves as a cautionary tale. Boston made a spirited push to land Antetokounmpo before he went to the Miami Heat, with All-Star forward Jaylen Brown known to be at the center of the Celtics’ offer. Now they face a challenging interpersonal dynamic with their star player because of the damage done by that information coming to light. The 29-year-old Brown, of course, is just two years removed from winning Finals MVP when Boston downed the Dallas Mavericks. But the Celtics are in ongoing discussions about trading him, in part, because there’s just no putting the toothpaste back in the tube.