Nikola Jokić, Bam Adebayo, And Devin Booker Land On Rival NBA Executives’ Watch List Two Weeks Into Season

Two weeks into the 2026-27 season, rival NBA front offices are already watching Nikola Jokić, Bam Adebayo, and Devin Booker, The Ringer’s Howard Beck reported Wednesday.

Jokić’s Denver Nuggets are 3-3, Adebayo’s Miami Heat are 2-5, and Booker’s Phoenix Suns are 1-4.

Beck’s report cites unnamed team executives and lists the players rival front offices are monitoring. Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving also made the list.

Moves could come before the Feb. 11 trade deadline or wait until next summer, according to Beck. He wrote that rival executives are also monitoring the struggles of the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings.

Sacramento is 1-6, and its only win came 115-100 over Dallas on Monday at American Airlines Center. New Orleans is 3-4.

One of the executives Beck interviewed has worked in NBA front offices for years. Beck followed that executive’s comment with a note telling aggregators it was not a scoop. The executive told Beck that 29 front offices are falling short “if they’re not constantly thinking about how to get Jokić on their team.”

Nikola Jokić Criticizes Booing Fans As Bam Adebayo Cites ‘Scapegoat’ Label

In its Oct. 24 home opener, Denver fell behind New Orleans by 23 points and trailed 73-57 at halftime as fans at Ball Arena booed. The Nuggets came back to win 141-135 in overtime, and Jokić finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists before his postgame news conference.

“We got booed at our first home game, and I think those fans who booed us, they don’t need to come anymore,” Jokić said. “If you guys follow us, you know that we never quit and we’ve come back from much worse situations. So if they ask me, they are not welcome anymore.”

Two nights later, the Golden State Warriors beat Denver 134-114 at Ball Arena and dropped the Nuggets to 1-2. Jokić said after that loss that he was “sticking to what I said.” He added that he did not consider fans who boo their own team to be “real fans” and that he had never heard of it happening in Europe.

Denver won the 2023 championship. In the two springs since, the Nuggets lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 Western Conference semifinals and to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round this year.

The Nuggets fired general manager Calvin Booth and coach Michael Malone in April 2025. Nuggets coach David Adelman took over for Malone that month.

Jokić has said he plans to sign an extension next summer, according to Beck. If he declines his $62 million option instead, he can become a free agent.

Through six games, Jokić is averaging 22.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.0 assists on 47.2% shooting. Denver lost its most recent game 118-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

A second team executive told Beck that financial constraints have kept Denver from building around Jokić since the title. That executive raised the possibility of a trade before Jokić’s next extension kicks in and makes building around him even harder. League insiders consider an in-season trade of Jokić highly unlikely, Beck reported. Next summer, he wrote, is a different matter.

Miami opened 0-4, its worst start since the 2007-08 season. The fourth loss came Oct. 26 at Kaseya Center, where the Mavericks won 113-109 and Adebayo scored 8 points on 3-of-10 shooting and went 0-of-5 from 3-point range. It was his fourth game alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Heat acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks in a June 23 trade.

“Can’t overthink basketball, man,” Adebayo said. “For me, it’s my shot not going in. I’m not gonna overthink that. It’s funny how the outside noise wants to make me the scapegoat. But when the tables turn, just all that energy, when the energy shifts, just be prepared for that.”

“I got expectations for myself, but, obviously, the outside noise got expectations for us,” Adebayo added. “So for me, I know what I’m capable of. I’m not going to overthink that. We’re 0-4 right now.”

Through seven games, Adebayo is averaging 16.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on 49.4% shooting. He has made 17.4% of his 3-point attempts while taking 3.3 per game.

“This year, I’m just taking more 3s,” Adebayo said after the Dallas loss. “I mean that’s, that’s really it.”

Last season, Adebayo averaged 20.1 points. On March 10, he scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards. Only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962 ranks higher in NBA history.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 28.4 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. He had a triple-double in the Dallas loss.

“It’s not just Bam, it’s everybody,” Antetokounmpo said after that game. “We’re trying to figure out where we fit.”

Miami won its next two games, then lost 138-117 at the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. Beck wrote that concerns about the pairing have faded somewhat over the past week, but league insiders remain skeptical of it.

The second executive told Beck he never thought Adebayo and Antetokounmpo would fit. That executive questioned how an offense works with two power forwards who do not shoot and operate in the same areas of the floor. Miami sent its best role players to Milwaukee in the Antetokounmpo trade, Beck reported, and has little of value left to deal other than Adebayo.

Devin Booker And Kyrie Irving Among Names On Rival Executives’ Watch List

Phoenix’s only win came Oct. 24, when Booker scored 43 points in a 131-122 home victory over Golden State. Reserves Luke Kennard and Collin Gillespie finished plus-15 and plus-16 that night, while Booker finished plus-2.

“I’d say right now they have more of a chemistry than our first group, and I think typically that’s how teams are,” Booker said. “You play against those guys every day in practice, and they know each other like white on rice.”

“As the first unit, we need to learn from them in a way, and the type that they play,” Booker continued. “Everybody sacrifices in those groups, and you see the result that you get out of it.”

Two nights later, Oklahoma City held Booker to 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting in a 125-114 Phoenix loss. He finished with 7 assists. Booker said afterward that he had to “find better ways to be more aggressive.” The Thunder swept the Suns in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

“We’ve faced a 2-3 zone our entire lives,” Booker explained. “It’s not complicated. You hit one or two shots, they’ll be out of it, but you continue to slow down and we’re not getting nothing out of it, they’ll stay in it.”

Phoenix has since lost 127-120 to Denver and 116-113 at Golden State on Monday. Through five games, Booker is averaging 23.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 5.2 assists on 48.8% shooting. The Suns rank last in the NBA in defensive rating at 124.5 points allowed per 100 possessions.

Booker is 30 and in his 12th season with Phoenix. The Suns reached the 2021 NBA Finals, and their last playoff series win came two years later. A Booker trade would let Phoenix rebuild its supply of draft picks, Beck wrote.

Beck noted that Irving is 34, earns $39 million this season, and wants another extension. Irving signed a three-year, $119 million deal in June 2025. It runs through 2027-28, with a player option on the final season.

Irving is averaging 21.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in five games.

Dallas is now in the hands of 19-year-old Cooper Flagg, according to Beck. Flagg won Rookie of the Year last season. He is averaging 25.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.5 assists for the 4-3 Mavericks.

Denver hosts the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Miami plays at the LA Clippers the same night, and Phoenix hosts Portland.