Denver Nuggets
While the Hornets enjoy paying their best player only $12 million a year, the Nuggets really enjoyed paying their best player about $1.5 million. The free ride is over though, Denver has announced they will decline the team option on Nikola Jokic and sign him to a max deal worth nearly $150 million over the next five seasons.
Locking down Jokic long term is a no-brainer but they did sacrifice any chance they had to bring in multiple max contracts in 2019 when they would have had loads of cap space to work with before re-signing the Joker. For a player who wasn’t seen as much a flight risk anyway this could be a serious miscalculation, but for now, they must be happy to know he is secured for the foreseeable future.
Overpaying bench players like Kenneth Faried and Mason Plumlee has also limited their flexibility moving forward. They will have a tough decision to make regarding Will Barton, who is in line for a raise next season whether or not the Nuggets will be the team to give it to him. Gary Harris’ new contract also kicks in next season, and Jamal Murray’s raise will come soon as well.
Unless the Nuggets can get creative with their exceptions they are unlikely to attract any game-changing talent to help out next season. For now, they will have to re-tool in any way they can to try and stay competitive in the tough Western Conference.
Verdict: Retool