Nikola Jokic is a three-time NBA MVP, the 2022-23 NBA Finals MVP, a seven-time All-Star and widely regarded as one of the three best basketball players in the world. There would seem to be no scenario where the Denver Nuggets would ever consider trading away Jokic.

But on Tuesday, one such scenario was brought up, oddly enough by Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke during a press conference to announce the hiring of Jon Wallace and promotion of Ben Tenzer in Denver's front office.

Kroenke and Tenzer were asked for their thoughts on the NBA salary cap's second apron and if it's serving as a "hard cap," in which teams will avoid at all costs.

"From an ownership perspective around the second apron, there was a lot of conversations last summer about KCP [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] and us re-signing him and around the second apron. We never really got any pointed questions about that—at least I didn't. It was a fascinating one, because we really did every exercise, looking through retaining him and what that meant under the new rules.

"I think that for us as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we're scared of. I think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our injury history. The wrong person gets injured and very quickly you're into a scenario where—that I never want to have to contemplate—trading No. 15 [Jokic].

'We're very conscious of that pushing forward and providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives. But that second apron—is it a hard cap? I'm not 100 percent sure. But it's something that teams are obviously very aware of going forward."

To be clear, Kroenke is not saying the Nuggets are going to trade Jokic. But what was particularly jarring was that he wasn't even asked about such a scenario, he was merely asked if exceeding the league's more punitive second apron is a no-go in his team-building philosophy.

Fans couldn't believe his answer.

For what it's worth, Kroenke also said that the Nuggets will offer Jokic, who is eligible for a sizable contract extension this offseason, a contract but that they're unsure if he'll accept given he can wait until next offseason and stand to earn even more money in an extension.

But Kroenke's other quote will undoubtedly be talked about far more. And as crazy as it sounds, there is at least some sense to what he's saying. The very scenario Kroenke is talking about is playing out in Boston right now, as the Celtics traded away invaluable two-way guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers to cut costs in the wake of Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury.

So not entirely out of the question. Only, bringing up the face of the franchise as the example player being traded was perhaps not the best idea.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nuggets Owner Randomly Brings Up Possibly Trading Nikola Jokic, Stuns NBA Fans .

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