11:59pm: The team still hasn’t made an official announcement, but the move indeed took place, according to the RealGM transactions log.
3:54pm: The Nuggets have claimed forward Shavlik Randolph off of waivers, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). The 31-year-old was waived by the Celtics to accommodate the signing of Chris Babb to a multiyear deal. The addition of Randolph will increase Denver’s roster count to the league maximum of 15 players. No official announcement has been made by the team as of yet regarding the waiver claim.
The logic of why Denver would claim Randolph was posited earlier today by Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Nuggets are close to $1.864MM shy of the salary floor, but claiming Randolph and his $1,227,985 salary will count toward that salary floor, lessening the amount of shortfall the franchise would need to distribute amongst its players. Denver will only be responsible to pay out the last prorated portion of salary that Randolph was due to receive this season. This could mean a savings of roughly $1MM for the organization, certainly worth claiming Randolph and carrying him on the roster for the remaining five contests.
Randolph has appeared in a total of 21 games this season for the Suns and Celtics. His career averages through 146 appearances are 2.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.2 assists. Randolph’s career slash line is .449/.167/.544.