The Joker deserves a better hand than this. Of course, he’ll elevate Christian Braun, the way he elevates everyone in his orbit. Nikola Jokic is a basketball unicorn, a walking cheat code, the sort of generational tide that lifts all boats.

He ain’t Moses. 

“When we talk about Nikola, the MVP of the league, I’m the steward … of his peak years. You want to optimize those and take advantage of those.”

That was Nuggets exec Calvin Booth, exactly 25 months ago. June 2022. Those were the days, my friend.

Bruce Brown was on the way. So was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. If we only knew then what we know now … we’d take it, wouldn’t we? Every time. Warts and all.

Alas, the Steward of the Peak Years is in one whale of a shooting slump.

In the last month, Denver’s lost a starting guard, one of the better pure 3-and-D types in the league, in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Nuggets traded away their backup point guard in Reggie Jackson, a vet who averaged 10.2 points per game for a team whose starter at the point, Jamal Murray, can’t shake the injury bug. Oh, and they had to send Charlotte three second-round draft picks in the process.

They sent another three second-rounders to Phoenix on draft night in order to nab big man DaRon Holmes II out of Dayton, a leaper who could anchor the second unit and soak up some of those Aaron Gordon minutes during the regular season. Holmes made it 26 minutes in the Summer League before tearing his right Achilles, ending his rookie season before it ever got started.

But, hey! Dario Saric!

Jokic turns 30 in February. If Joker wasn’t Joker, he’d be calling up Dame Lillard for notes on the first draft of a “trade-me” statement.

Booth put the perfect finishing touches on an exquisite house, the belle of the block. A crib with almost enough bathrooms to keep Russell Wilson happy.

Only now, two years later, the roof leaks. The faucets won’t stop dripping. The grass dies.

Structurally, it’s fine. The Nuggets are fine. But the neighborhood is growing, and the houses springing up around them are looking swankier by the day.

The Thunder got better. The Mavs got better. The Spurs got better. The Grizzlies got better. The Kings got better. The Pelicans got better.

The Nuggets got Dario.

Yes, there’s still time. Russell Westbrook is still sorta-kinda-maybe dangling out there, although, for a roster that needs tough, playoff-grizzled hombres and shooters, Russ ticks only one of those boxes, and it’s not the latter, which is the box the Steward needs the most.

And while it’s OK to grumble about how the enforced parity of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is dynasty-proofing the Nuggets, it’s also past time for Booth and president Josh Kroenke to stop whining about the darn thing.

The CBA didn’t make the Nuggets guarantee $32 million to Zeke Nnaji through 2027, with a cap hit of $8.9 million this season.

The CBA didn’t make the Nuggets guarantee $10.25 million to Jackson, with a player option, through 2025.

The CBA didn’t make the Nuggets extend guaranteed contracts to second-rounders Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson, who as of Monday afternoon are averaging 13.0 points per game in the NBA Summer League — over a combined 61.6 minutes per tilt.

The CBA didn’t make the Nuggets trade away three second-round picks on draft night for a rookie big man who might have fallen to them at No. 28 anyway.

Every time the front office scouts itself a step forward, a contract decision knocks the franchise two steps back.

Booth might’ve cut off a few fingers in order to try and save some face. Because those second-rounders, hypothetically, could’ve helped sweeten a deal that could get two of the Nuggets’ other contract overpays — Nnaji, for sure, and maybe even Michael Porter Jr. — off the books. And they’re gone.

Former Nuggets coach George Karl joked on Xwitter over this past weekend that the current administration’s probably angering the hoops gods by not pushing all its chips in around the greatest player in franchise history.

He may be on to something.

For Nuggets faithful, summers are only going to get scarier. Every time Jokic goes home to Serbia, it’s going to be harder and harder for him not to want to stay there.

Legends are leased. The Nuggets may own Joker’s contract, but they’re renting his glow. It won’t shine forever. One day, hopefully, ages from now, he’s going to wake up and decide he’s not coming back.

“I don’t feel the pressure,” Booth said two summers ago. “I’m excited for the opportunity. I want to be able to help (Jokic) in the way he’s helped our organization and everybody in it.”

The Steward’s got some work to do. The West won’t rest. And parting the Red Sea is no longer a one-man job.

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