Nikola Jokic's former teammate reveals Nuggets star almost retired from NBA at shockingly young age

Nikola Jokic is one of the best players in the history of the NBA.

But at least the way one of his former Denver Nuggets teammates tells the story, Jokic's basketball career was almost over three years ago.

On the Straight Game Podcast, DeMarcus Cousins shared the story that Jokic nearly retired in 2022 rather than sign his supermax extension with Denver. Jokic was 27 at the time.

"If you ever get a chance to hold a conversation with him, and he just tells you a little bit about himself, he'll tell you how real he is," Cousins said. "He really don't give a f— about this s—. He doesn't care at all. This is like his second or third favorite thing to do, maybe third or fourth."

Cousins continued.

"Most games where he's dropping these crazy stats, he probably doesn't even want to be there," Cousins said. "And that's the scary part about all of it."

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That's when Cousins shared the near-retirement story.

"(Someone else) signed an extension, and I said to (Jokic), yours is gonna be crazy," Cousins said. "He said, 'I honestly think I might retire.' I said, 'And leave $300 million? Sign the contract and just get fat, at worst.'"

Jokic did sign the big money deal.

And since then, he has won an MVP award and finished second in the other two seasons. 

Jokic might be coming off his best season yet, averages of 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 41.7% from 3-point range.

This is an all-time great, and basketball fans are just lucky Jokic hasn't hung up his sneakers yet.

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