The Nuggets went all-in during 2017’s free agent period, locking up Paul Millsap to a multiyear deal that would pay him in the neighborhood of $30MM annually. In signing Millsap and extending Gary Harris, the Nuggets essentially forfeited any cap flexibility they would’ve had for the summer of 2018, but that aggressive spending didn’t result in a playoff berth in a competitive Western Conference. Denver will head into the 2018/19 campaign hoping that better health from Millsap and continued improvements from its young players will produce better results.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Nuggets financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2018:
Guaranteed Salary
- Paul Millsap ($29,730,769)
- Gary Harris ($16,517,857)
- Kenneth Faried ($13,764,045)
- Mason Plumlee ($12,917,808)
- Jamal Murray ($3,499,800)
- Trey Lyles ($3,364,249)
- Juan Hernangomez ($2,166,360)
- Tyler Lydon ($1,874,640)
- Malik Beasley ($1,773,840)
- Total: $85,609,368
Player Options
- Wilson Chandler ($12,800,562)
- Darrell Arthur ($7,464,912)
- Total: $20,265,474
Team Options
- Nikola Jokic ($1,600,520)
- Total: $1,600,520
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- None
Restricted Free Agents
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Devin Harris ($8,364,837): Bird rights
- Will Barton ($6,713,333): Bird rights
- No. 14 overall pick ($2,869,353)1
- Richard Jefferson ($1,499,698): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $16,823,817
Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000
Projected Cap Room: None
- Even if Chandler turns down his player option, Arthur is a virtual lock to exercise his, and Jokic will be back — either on his cheap team-option salary or on a lucrative new deal to avoid having him reach unrestricted free agency in 2019. With their nine guaranteed contracts, Arthur’s player option, Jokic’s team option, and the cap hold for their lottery pick, the Nuggets already have a total team salary of $97,544,153, essentially eliminating cap room.
- If Chandler opts in and the Nuggets want to sign Jokic to a new contract this summer, the team projects to be way over the cap, and may have to make a trade or two to avoid blowing past the luxury-tax line.
Footnotes:
- The Nuggets are 14th in the draft lottery standings. They could technically end up picking at No. 1 ($8,095,595), No. 2 ($7,243,344), or No. 3 ($6,504,619), though that’s unlikely.
Note: Rookie scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wow 13 million dollars for Mason Plumlee. Ouch.
And they traded for him and a second with a first and Nurkic.
Yea they don’t know how to win trades.
What a trash trade
Nurkic>Plumlee
First>Second
They lost in both parts
And took on Salary from a team that was desperate to dump salary.
2018 Plan – Do nothing, you can’t anyway. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go into the Luxury Tax by extending Jokic. Nuggets can offer him the most money in 2019 anyway. Unless they can actually trade someone, no moves to be made.
Pray you draft well. Pray everyone stays healthy.
2019 – Cut Milsap, max out Jokic. Load Milsap, Chandler, Faried, and Aurthur in the van and drive them to the airport.
Lol, you make me laugh. Hilarious…put them in the van drive them to the airport.
Presumably player options will be taken. With money for picks and cheap FAs, allocate maybe $113mil. The luxury tax will start at about 123m. So denver has about 10m left.
Will Barton has already turned down a 4/42 extension. It will take more and they don’t have it without somehow moving underperforming expirings.
Next offseason (for 19/20), Faried, Arthur & Wilson expire and Milsap has a team option, which could cut $64mil. That makes enough for Jokic & Trey Lyles, plus Barton if they already did a backloaded 4/48.
Good news: PG is no longer a problem, Murray does it fine.
Also the 14th pick this year is a relatively good spot– but, they don’t have a strong need, so it could be traded.
Next year, hope young players improve & Milsap stays healthy, which is reasonable. But I would let Barton go and tell Murray & Harris to play some team D– their jobs are secure. Draft Alexander to back them up.
Year after, I’d rather have and play Lyles than spend 30 for Milsap.
So I’m agreeing with ZA except I forgot the van!
Question for Luke Adams sir sir HR team:
Milsap has a team option on his 3rd year for presumably the whole $30mil or so.
How does that work for matching salaries in trading? Can a team just trade for him, sending the equivalent in player salaries, and then drop him and save the money?
I was researching Anthony Tolliver, and he was an interesting case for that last year, with the team option a partial guarantee. The guy’s a steal.
The new CBA changed the rules related to trade-matching on non-guaranteed salaries, as I detailed here: link to hoopsrumors.com
However, in Millsap’s case, he has an actual team option rather than a non-guaranteed salary. That means that after the 2019 trade deadline passes, he can’t be traded at all unless that team option is exercised. CBA rules prohibit players from being traded during the offseason if they have an option decision outstanding. They can be traded, but the option would need to be exercised as part of the deal (like the Chris Paul trade last summer).
So no, a team couldn’t acquire Millsap after the 2018/19 season and then immediately decline the option.
Thanks. That sounded open to abuse.
I supect Milsap will be UFA then, for 2019/20, so Denver can sign homegrowns. Z-A will be waiting with the van.