The Nuggets have signed free agent center Tyler Zeller to their roster for training camp, tweets Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports.
Zeller, 29, was out of the league for most of the 2018/19 campaign, but signed a 10-day contract with Atlanta in March, then joined the Grizzlies for the final week of the regular season. In total, he appeared in six games for the two teams, averaging 7.7 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 15.5 minutes per contest.
The former first-round pick has spent seven total seasons in the NBA, having also appeared in regular season games for the Celtics, Cavaliers, Nets, and Bucks.
The Nuggets are carrying 14 players on guaranteed contracts, so Zeller could theoretically have a chance to earn the final spot on the team’s regular season roster as a third center behind Nikola Jokic and Mason Plumlee. However, Denver is precariously close to the luxury tax line and may simply prefer to keep that roster spot open.
With Zeller under contract, the Nuggets now have 18 players on their roster. In addition to the 14 players with guaranteed salaries, Denver is carrying Tyler Cook and Bol Bol on two-way deals and PJ Dozier and Zeller on non-guaranteed contracts.
I’d rather have Bol Bol as a third center, I mean seriously Tyler Zeller!
It’s a non-guaranteed contract, and with Plumlee and Jokic busy at the World Cup, they can get a little bit of an early break with another big in camp. Allows them to ease Bol into things, rest Jokic and Plumlee, and evaluate a guy in the event of injury later on. It’s not a big deal.