Every so often a European owner talks about luring an NBA superstar home, and everyone nods politely and moves on. This one's a little different, because the guy making the pitch actually put a number on paper — and he's not shutting up about it.
Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who owns Panathinaikos, told Eurohoops he tried to buy out the final year of Jokic's Nuggets contract and got flat rejected. His quote, translated: 'I tried to buy out the last year of his contract, but I was rejected. Let's wait for next year.' That's not a fan fantasy — that's an owner saying he called Denver with real money and got told to kick rocks.
The timing actually lines up with something real happening in Jokic's contract. He's got 2 seasons and $121.8 million left on his current deal with the Nuggets, but the second of those years is a player option — meaning Jokic can walk into unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2027 if he wants. He already turned down a 4-year, $278 million extension back in June, betting on himself to sign an even bigger deal — a potential 5-year, $359.5 million extension available to him in July 2027 that would be the richest contract in NBA history.
So Giannakopoulos isn't just throwing out a number for shock value — he's positioning himself for the exact moment Jokic's situation opens up. He called Jokic 'the best player in the world' and 'a dream of mine' he hasn't signed yet, and made clear this wasn't his first attempt, just his most public one.
Realistically, none of this moves the needle for the Nuggets right now. Jokic is a 3-time MVP anchoring a title contender in Denver, and no European club — no matter how loaded the ownership — is peeling him away from a max NBA payday and a shot at more rings. But the fact that an actual buyout offer got made and rejected, on the record, is a wild data point in the broader conversation about NBA stars and Euroleague money creeping closer together.
Worth watching: Jokic hits free agency eligibility in the summer of 2027, right around when Giannakopoulos says he'll try again. Nothing here suggests Jokic is actually considering it — but it's now a real subplot to track as his next contract decision approaches.