Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Julius Randle Out Of World Cup; Torrey Craig Joining Select Team

August 3rd, 2019 at 4:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Team USA lost another star today as Julius Randle announced that he won’t be competing for a spot on the FIBA World Cup squad, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN. He cited an unspecified family issue for the decision.

Randle, who signed with the Knicks last month, was a late addition to camp, receiving an invitation 11 days ago along with the Celtics‘ Jaylen Brown after several high-profile players declined the opportunity. With competition for 12 roster spots to begin Monday, it’s not clear if there’s time to find a replacement for Randle.

A move was also made to the Select Team that will scrimmage against those players in Las Vegas. Torrey Craig of the Nuggets was chosen to replace Landry Shamet of the Clippers, who announced yesterday that he won’t be participating.

Players will report to camp tomorrow and the battle for roster spots will run through Thursday. The World Cup will take place from August 31 to September 15 in China.

Clippers/Lakers To Headline NBA’s 2019 Christmas Day Schedule

August 2nd, 2019 at 2:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has set its Christmas Day schedule for the 2019/20 season, according to reports from multiple ESPN writers. Adrian Wojnarowski, Tim Bontemps, and Malika Andrews have details on the five games set for December 25, 2019.

While the order and times of the games haven’t yet been confirmed, these are the five matchups we’ll see on Christmas Day this December, per ESPN’s reporting:

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers
Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors
Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors
New Orleans Pelicans at Denver Nuggets

The Clippers/Lakers and Bucks/Sixers matchups will pit the two current favorites from the Western and Eastern Conferences against one another. Those games figure to be the headliners of the day, with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George squaring off against LeBron James and Anthony Davis, plus Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid going head-to-head.

The Rockets/Warriors game – a rematch of the most competitive Western postseason rivalry of the last two years – should be an entertaining showdown as well, even without Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson in the picture. James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and D’Angelo Russell will still provide plenty of star power.

The defending champion Raptors will make a rare Christmas Day appearance, hosting the new-look Celtics, led by Kemba Walker. It’ll also be a rare December 25 home game for the Nuggets, who will take on the young, up-and-coming Pelicans and No. 1 pick Zion Williamson.

Which Christmas Day game are you most looking forward to in 2019? Are there any teams or matchups you’re disappointed to see (or not see) on the December 25 schedule? Jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Nuggets Sign 2017 Second-Rounder Vlatko Cancar

August 1st, 2019 at 5:55pm CST by marksuleymanov

AUGUST 1: The Nuggets have officially signed Cancar to a contract, per NBA.com’s transactions log. Terms of the deal aren’t yet known, but Denver has its mid-level exception available, so it could exceed two years.

JULY 13: The Nuggets are expected to sign Slovenian prospect Vlatko Cancar, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link). Cancar was Denver’s second-round pick (49th overall) in the 2017 draft.

Cancar, 22, was selected as a draft-and-stash player and expected to remain in Europe for a couple of seasons before joining the Nuggets. The 6-foot-8 forward has appeared in three Summer League games for Denver, averaging 9.7 PPG and 4.0 RPG.

The forward suited up for San Pablo Burgos in Spain last season.

Nuggets Release Thomas Welsh

July 31st, 2019 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets have opened up a second two-way contract slot, having waived center Thomas Welsh, according to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Welsh, 23, was the 58th overall pick in the 2018 draft. After signing a two-way deal with Denver, the seven-footer played in limited minutes in 11 games for the club. He saw more extensive action in the G League for the Capital City Go-Go and Iowa Wolves, averaging 10.3 PPG and 8.1 RPG in 20 contests (23.0 MPG).

Because the Nuggets are one of just two NBA teams without a G League affiliate of their own, their ability to develop two-way players is limited. Denver has had to assign Welsh and other young players to rival teams’ affiliates, and those clubs have other players they’re more motivated to develop.

Besides having both two-way slots open, the Nuggets have 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, though 2019 second-round pick Bol Bol remains unsigned and a mid-July report indicated that the team plans to sign 2017 second-rounder Vlatko Cancar.

Sue Bird Has Wide Range Of Duties

July 29th, 2019 at 8:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Keeping his young core group together is enough to make the Nuggets a prime Western Conference contender, general manager Arturas Karnisovas told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on “The Woj Pod” (hat tip to the Denver Post’s Mike Singer).

“Definitely we’re banking on our continuity,” the Nuggets GM said. “A lot of teams that made changes and added huge pieces and stars, they’re still dealing in hypotheticals. We’ve watched this group show us last year, take us to a 54-28 season, having the best home record, 34-7, so this group is (established) and they’re still the third youngest group in the league.”

Longtime WNBA star Sue Bird has a wide variety of duties as a basketball operations associate with the Nuggets during her league’s offseason, as Alex Coffey of The Athletic details. She observes games and practices, sits in on front office meetings, watches film and helps scouting college and international players. She also provided advice to point guard Monte Morris, which he found insightful. “She helped me stay encouraged when things were getting tough,” Morris said. “She would tell me things she noticed in how I played. It wasn’t always positive. There were times when she was like, ‘This guy’s guarding you this way. Try to counter him this way.’ Just little things like that.”

Northwest Notes: Murray, Wolves, Jazz, Thunder

July 26th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Jamal Murray‘s new five-year, maximum-salary extension with the Nuggets will start at 25% of the cap if the standout guard doesn’t make an All-NBA team in 2019/20, which would make the deal worth $169.65MM based on the league’s current cap projections.

However, as Bobby Marks of ESPN outlines (via Twitter), the two sides agreed to include Rose Rule language in Murray’s new deal, which would increase the value of the contract in the event that he has a huge ’19/20 season. If Murray earns All-NBA honors in 2020, his starting salary would be worth 26% (Third Team), 27.5% (Second Team), or 30% (First Team) of the cap.

That means Murray’s five-year extension could have a value as high as $203.58MM if he makes the All-NBA First Team or wins the MVP award next season, which is a long shot. A spot on the Second Team would result in a deal worth a total of $186.62MM, while a Third Team nod would bump the total value to $176.44MM.

As we wait to see if Murray can have a breakout year and insert himself into the All-NBA discussion, here’s more from around the Northwest:

With Tom Thibodeau no longer in the picture in Minnesota, the Timberwolves project to have a deeper rotation to start the 2019/20 season than they did a year ago. Still, as Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes, with so many young, hungry players on the roster, there should be some interesting position and rotation battles in training camp this fall.
Upon being introduced by the Jazz on Friday, veterans Ed Davis and Jeff Green said they chose Utah because they view the team as a team capable of competing for a championship, as Aaron Falk of UtahJazz.com relays.
In a pair of stories, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman and Brett Dawson of The Athletic explore whether Sam Presti‘s references to “repositioning” and “replenishing” – rather than “rebuilding” – the Thunder is merely semantics, or if it provides a clue for how the process in Oklahoma City might play out.

Team USA Updates: Millsap, Plumlee, Harrell, Select Team

July 25th, 2019 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has issued a press release announcing a series of updates relating to the team it’s putting together for the 2019 World Cup in China, as well as the training camp that will take place in August before that event. Here are the highlights of that announcement:

More withdrawals:

Nuggets big man Paul Millsap has joined the ever-growing list of players from Team USA’s initial 20-man roster who have decided not to participate in this year’s World Cup. As expected, Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has also withdrawn from Team USA’s 2019 roster.

Millsap and Love join Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum among the original invitees who have removed their names from World Cup consideration.

New invitees:

Team USA confirmed that Thaddeus Young, Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, and Jaylen Brown will join the training camp roster for next month, as previous reports indicated.

In addition to those four players, two big men will join the roster as well, with Clippers center Montrezl Harrell and Nuggets center Mason Plumlee have received invitations from USA Basketball. Assuming the remaining 11 players from the original 20-man roster remain committed, that would bring the roster back up to 17.

[UPDATE: Harrell may turn down his invitation]

Those 11 other players are Harrison Barnes, Andre Drummond, Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, P.J. Tucker, Myles Turner, and Kemba Walker.

Select Team:

For the first time, USA Basketball confirmed the players who will make up the Select Team at next month’s training camp in Las Vegas. The members of the 13-man Select Team will practice and scrimmage with Team USA’s training camp invitees, and will be coached by Jeff Van Gundy.

It’s possible that a player could be elevated from the Select Team to the primary roster and eventually find his way onto the 12-man squad that will play in China, but that’s probably a long shot.

The 13 players who will play for the Select Team are as follows:

Jarrett Allen (Nets)
Marvin Bagley III (Kings)
Mikal Bridges (Suns)
Jalen Brunson (Mavericks)
John Collins (Hawks)
Pat Connaughton (Bucks)
De’Aaron Fox (Kings)
Joe Harris (Nets)
Jonathan Isaac (Magic)
Mitchell Robinson (Knicks)
Landry Shamet (Clippers)
Derrick White (Spurs)
Trae Young (Hawks)

Team USA’s training camp will take place during the week of August 5, while the World Cup itself is scheduled to run from August 31 to September 15.

Nuggets Sign Jamal Murray To Five-Year Extension

July 24th, 2019 at 6:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 24: The extension is official, per a release (via e-mail and Twitter) from the team.

JUNE 30: The Nuggets have agreed to terms with guard Jamal Murray on a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension, agent Mike George tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The extension will take effect to start the 2020/21 league year.

While the exact value of that extension is not yet known, it would be worth $169.65MM based on the NBA’s current cap projection of $117MM for ’20/21, starting at $29.25MM in year one and increasing all the way up to $38.61MM by year five.

Murray, 22, has emerged as a foundational piece for the Nuggets since being selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2016 draft. In 2018/19, he established new career highs in PPG (18.2), APG (4.8), and RPG (4.2) over the course of 75 games (32.6 MPG). He and fellow franchise cornerstone Nikola Jokic helped lead Denver to a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and came within one game of appearing in the conference finals.

While Denver clearly wanted to lock up a budding young star early, extending Murray now rather than waiting until the 2020 restricted free agent period will limit the team’s financial flexibility next season. Murray would have had a cap hold of approximately $13.3MM as a restricted free agent. Now that he has been extended, his new cap hit (projected to be $29MM+) will hit the books right away, eating into the Nuggets’ potential cap room.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Two Nuggets TPEs Expire; Grant Acqiusition Praised

July 16th, 2019 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Nuggets traded player exceptions expired on Monday, one year after the team sent Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur to Brooklyn in a salary dump. Denver created trade exceptions worth $13.76MM and $5.92MM in that swap, but ultimately didn’t end up finding a use for them.

While those Nuggets TPEs went unused, the team did take advantage of another trade exception earlier this month — Denver created an exception worth over $12MM last July when the team sent Wilson Chandler to Philadelphia, and subsequently used that exception last week to acquire Jerami Grant from Oklahoma City.

Adding Grant’s $9MM+ salary to their books moved the Nuggets’ team salary close to the luxury tax threshold, reducing the likelihood of the club using those other TPEs.

Speaking of Jerami Grant, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer thinks the Nuggets‘ acquisition of the former Thunder forward was one of the very best moves of the 2019 offseason. As O’Connor outlines, Grant is the sort of quality wing who can complement Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray on offense while helping to cover for them on defense, which is exactly the sort of player Denver was missing last season.

Latest On Andre Iguodala

July 15th, 2019 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets and Clippers continue to be the two teams most seriously pursuing Grizzlies swingman Andre Iguodala, Shams Charania of Stadium reports (video link). However both Houston and Los Angeles “seem to be at a standstill” in talks with Memphis, per Charania.

According to Charania, the Rockets aren’t entirely comfortable with the idea of going deep into luxury-tax territory for Iguodala. While Charania doesn’t specify what exactly Houston’s package would look like, he refers to “a potential sign-and-trade” — that would likely involve Iman Shumpert attached to a draft pick, as I wrote last Friday.

Currently, Houston’s team salary is below the tax line, but taking on Iguodala’s $17MM+ salary without sending out any guaranteed money could bump the Rockets’ projected tax bill up to about $20MM, says Charania.

As for the Clippers, Maurice Harkless‘ expiring contract is the most logical salary-matching trade chip for L.A. in any deal involving Iguodala. However, Charania hears that the Clips don’t want to part with Harkless in an Iguodala trade.

Both the Rockets and Clippers have explored three- or four-team scenarios that might work for Iguodala, per Charania, but that’s probably a long shot. Meanwhile, the Mavericks and Nuggets have also engaged with the Grizzlies on Iguodala, but neither team has really gained any real traction in trade discussions.

Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) previously suggested there’s a belief in league circles that the Grizzlies may be leaning toward keeping Iggy on their roster into the season unless they receive a trade offer that includes a first-round pick. We’ll see if that ends up being the case if no potential suitors meet their asking price.