The Nuggets have decided to decline their 2024/25 team option on Vlatko Cancar, a source tells Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter links).
However, it sounds like there’s mutual interest in a reunion.
As Durando observes, the Nuggets are declining the $2,346,606 option due to luxury tax concerns. But if Cancar re-signs with Denver on a minimum-salary deal, he would project to make $2,432,511 in ’24/25 while the Nuggets would carry a cap hit of $2,093,637.
Durando believes the 27-year-old is “likely” to return to the Nuggets on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract.
Cancar missed the entire ’23/24 season after tearing the ACL in his left knee last summer. As Durando notes, Cancar has been preparing to play with the Slovenian national team ahead of the country’s Olympic qualifying tournament, which takes place early next month in Greece.
A former second-round pick who was stashed overseas for a couple years before coming stateside in 2019, Cancar averaged 5.0 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .476/.374/.927 shooting in 60 games (14.8 MPG) in ’22/23, when the Nuggets won their first championship.
The full list of team option decisions for next season can be found right here. June 23 was the deadline for Denver’s decision on Cancar, but most other decisions aren’t due until June 29.
Slovenia gonna need this guy to play at his pre-injury level to have a chance at making the Olympics. I’m pretty sure that neither Anthony Randolph or Goran Dragic are walking thru that door & Slovenia hasn’t had much success since those guys left the program… link to m.youtube.com
Would be a big mistake for him to even play this summer. That type of injury takes a lot of time to come back from. Risk it for a chance to lose in the Olympics is not a smart move.
Im guessing his doctor’s have a pretty good idea of when he’s ready to play again. At least a better idea than some random guy who’s prob never even heard of Cancar until a few minutes ago. To play at an event like this, representing your country on literally the biggest stage in all of sports seems like the exact reason that a guy like Cancar plays basketball in the 1st place.
So you criticize someone for making assumptions about stuff they can’t know for sure and follow it up by doing the same?
The obv difference is that my assumptions are based off the decisions of the the guy’s doctors & the guy himself who would know the situation better than anyone. On the other hand we have arc89’s knowledge of ACL tears which ranges from non-existent to knowing that they take a long time to recover from.