Panathinaikos owner Dimitrios Giannakopoulos says he has already made an audacious attempt to bring Nikola Jokić back to Europe, and insists he is prepared to try again.
Speaking on the Euro Insiders podcast, Giannakopoulos claimed he approached both Jokić’s representatives and the Denver Nuggets with a proposal aimed at buying out the Serbian superstar’s NBA contract and bringing him to Athens. The approach was rejected almost immediately.
“People are going to say, ‘OK, now he’s joking,’” Giannakopoulos said. “I did make a very serious proposal this year both to his team and to him. I got a rejection. I know that he has one more year of a contract.”
Technically, Jokić has two seasons remaining on his current deal. He is due approximately $59 million in 2026-27 and has a player option worth roughly $62.8 million for 2027-28. Giannakopoulos said his idea was to buy out what he viewed as the final year of the agreement, but Denver showed no interest in discussing the possibility.
“It took a few seconds [for the Nuggets] to say, ‘Who? Greece? Where? What? Bye,’” Giannakopoulos said. “But let’s wait until next year.”
That final sentence is what makes the story particularly interesting. Giannakopoulos clearly views Jokić as more than an impossible dream and appears willing to revisit the pursuit in 2027.
There is, however, an enormous obstacle to any Panathinaikos fantasy: Jokić himself has recently indicated that his intention is to remain in Denver. In July, the three-time MVP said his plan is to sign a new contract with the Nuggets next summer and spend the rest of his career with the franchise.
Waiting also makes considerable financial sense. By delaying an extension until 2027, Jokić is expected to become eligible for a five-year deal worth close to $360 million, rather than taking the shorter extension available to him this summer.
That makes Panathinaikos’ chances extremely remote, but Giannakopoulos’ pursuit is still remarkable. Jokić is not an aging NBA star contemplating one final European chapter. He is 31, remains one of the best players in basketball and has already led Denver to the first championship in franchise history.
For Panathinaikos, even attempting such a move shows the scale of Giannakopoulos’ ambition. The Athens powerhouse has consistently targeted major names, but convincing a player of Jokić’s stature to leave the NBA while still at the height of his powers would be unprecedented in the modern EuroLeague era.
