- As Jamal Murray works his way back from a devastating knee injury, Monte Morris is embracing his current role as the lead point guard, Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Post writes. “I’m not trying to be Jamal Murray. I’m just trying to be the best fashion of myself that I can be and help the team in any way,” Morris said. “That’s why there’s not a lot of pressure.” He had nine points and three assists in the Nuggets’ opening-night victory over Phoenix.
Over the last several months, dozens of NBA players have changed teams via free agency, dozens more have entered or exited the league, and a total of 35 trades have been made. After all that offseason activity, some teams will enter the 2021/22 season looking totally different than they did in the spring, while others will look pretty similar to last season’s squads.
While roster continuity is generally perceived as a sign of stability, carrying over a significant number of players from last year’s team doesn’t necessarily give a club a leg up entering a new season.
Heading into the 2020/21 season, for instance, the Pacers, Bulls, Spurs, and Magic were among the teams with the most roster continuity, but it didn’t help them make the playoffs. The Celtics and Heat were in that group too, and both clubs underachieved. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Sixers and Bucks were among the four teams with the most roster turnover — Philadelphia claimed the No. 1 seed in the East and Milwaukee won the title.
Entering the 2021/22 campaign, the Nuggets and Kings are the two teams bringing back the most players from last year’s end-of-season rosters (including two-way players), while the Lakers are – by a wide margin – the team that experienced the most roster turnover.
The Lakers are bringing back just three players from last year’s team, while no other club retained than fewer than seven players. Perhaps the fact that so many of L.A.’s newly-added players have prior experience with the team will help ease the transition this fall — three of the players who rejoined the Lakers this offseason (Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, and Avery Bradley) were part of the team that won a title in the Orlando bubble just over a year ago.
Here’s the total number of returning players for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, from most to fewest:
- Denver Nuggets: 14
- Sacramento Kings: 13
- Atlanta Hawks: 12
Orlando Magic: 12 - Dallas Mavericks: 11
Indiana Pacers: 11
Memphis Grizzlies: 11
Miami Heat: 11
Minnesota Timberwolves: 11
Philadelphia 76ers: 11
Phoenix Suns: 11
Utah Jazz: 11 - Detroit Pistons: 10
Golden State Warriors: 10
Houston Rockets: 10
Los Angeles Clippers: 10
New York Knicks: 10
Oklahoma City Thunder: 10 - Charlotte Hornets: 9
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9
Milwaukee Bucks: 9
New Orleans Pelicans: 9
Portland Trail Blazers: 9
San Antonio Spurs: 9
Washington Wizards: 9 - Boston Celtics: 8
Toronto Raptors: 8 - Brooklyn Nets: 7 (*)
Chicago Bulls: 7
- Los Angeles Lakers: 3
* The Nets’ count includes Kyrie Irving, since he technically remains on the roster; it doesn’t include LaMarcus Aldridge, who last played for Brooklyn but didn’t finish the season with the team.
The Nuggets have waived Nik Stauskas, who signed with the team earlier today, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. Stauskas is expect to land with Denver’s new G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, once he clears waivers.
The well-traveled shooting guard began his career in 2014 when the Kings selected him with the eighth pick in the draft. After one year in Sacramento, Stauskas spent time with the Sixers, Nets, Blazers and Cavaliers. He appeared in 335 games with career averages of 6.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 38.9% from the field and 35.3% from three-point range.
Stauskas has been out of the NBA since the end of the 2018/19 season, although he was with the Bucks in training camp last year. He spent part of the 2019/20 season in Spain and played for Raptors 905 in the G League last season.
10:13am: Black, Reed, and Bezhanishvili have officially been released, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
9:45am: The Nuggets are trimming their roster by waiving Tarik Black, Davon Reed and Giorgi Bezhanishvili, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. All three were on training camp deals.
Black played four years with the Lakers and Rockets, but has not appeared in a regular season game since the 2017/18 season. He has career averages of 4.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 220 games.
Reed was a second-round pick by the Suns in 2017 and played 21 games in his rookie season. He spent the following year with the Pacers on a two-way deal and holds career averages of 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 31 games.
Bezhanishvili, who was just signed this week, went undrafted this summer after logging three seasons with the Fighting Illini. The 22-year-old averaged 8.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 95 contests with the club, including 57 starts.
The trio could wind up on the Nuggets’ new G League team, the Grand Rapids Gold in Michigan, once they clear waivers.
The team has also signed Nik Stauskas to an Exhibit 10 deal, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets. Stauskas, who holds career averages of 6.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG across 335 games, will likely be waived and join the Gold as well.
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves, examine what still needs to be done before opening night, and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Denver Nuggets.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 10 deals aren’t included here.
Will Barton: Two years, $30MM. Re-signed using Bird rights.- JaMychal Green: Two years, $16.4MM. Includes second-year player option and unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Non-Bird rights.
- Jeff Green: Two years, $9MM. Includes second-year player option. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Austin Rivers: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Markus Howard: Two-way contract. Accepted two-way qualifying offer as restricted free agent.
Trades:
- None
Draft picks:
- 1-26: Bones Hyland
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $10,763,239).
Draft-and-stash signings:
- Petr Cornelie (No. 53 pick; 2016 draft)
- Signed to two-way contract.
Contract extensions:
- Michael Porter Jr.: Five years, maximum salary. Projected value of $172,500,000. Projected value can increase to $207,060,000 if Porter earns All-NBA honors in 2022. Includes partial guarantee ($12MM) in fifth year, with performance incentives that can make the fifth year fully guaranteed. Starts in 2022/23.
- Aaron Gordon: Four years, $86,640,001 (base value). Includes $4.8MM in incentives and a fourth-year player option. Starts in 2022/23.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Jamal Murray continues to recover from an ACL tear and is unlikely to return until at least March.
- Lost lead assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr.; hired Popeye Jones as assistant.
- Established new NBA G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold; Jason Terry will coach the team.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $134.8MM in salary.
- $5,036,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($4.5MM used on Jeff Green).
- Two traded player exceptions available, including one worth $2.2MM.
Lingering preseason issues:
- Vlatko Cancar is eligible for a veteran contract extension all season.
The Nuggets’ offseason:
Injuries had a major effect on the Western Conference playoffs in 2021. Some teams, like the Lakers and Jazz, didn’t have key players at full strength when they were eliminated. Others, such as the Clippers, were missing a star altogether.
The Nuggets fell into the latter category, having played the postseason without Jamal Murray, who tore his ACL in April. An injury to Nikola Jokic would’ve been even more damaging to Denver’s hopes of making a deep playoff run, but the loss of Murray was massive — when the team made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2020, it was Murray, not Jokic, that led the team in points, assists, and threes, among other categories.
Without Murray available in the spring of 2021, Denver fell in the Western semifinals to Phoenix, the team that eventually represented the West in the NBA Finals. Would the Nuggets have made the Finals themselves with a healthy Murray in their lineup? Maybe, maybe not. But they certainly would’ve had a better chance.
The Nuggets’ approach to the 2021 offseason suggests they fully believe this team can be a title contender when it’s fully healthy. Rather than doing anything drastic, Denver essentially doubled down on its current core.
That meant re-signing free agents Will Barton and JaMychal Green
, both of whom turned down player options in search of new contracts. The Nuggets gave Barton and Green modest raises and short-term deals, locking in two key pieces of their rotation for at least one year and possibly two (Green got a second-year player option).
While Murray’s absence was more significant, it’s worth noting that Barton had an injury of his own late last season that further compromised the Nuggets’ ability to put their best foot forward in the playoffs. Barton missed the last 13 games of the regular season and the first seven of the postseason with a hamstring issue. He didn’t look fully like himself until Denver’s very last game of 2020/21, when he poured in 25 points in Game 4 against the Suns — it wasn’t enough to help the team stave off elimination, but it was a reminder of Barton’s importance on the wing for the club.
As for Green, he’s a versatile big man capable of playing alongside Jokic or handling some minutes at center in smaller lineups. Re-signing him was a top priority for a Nuggets team that lost frontcourt depth when JaVale McGee and Paul Millsap departed in free agency. The price Denver paid for Green (more than $8MM per year) suggests he was the team’s top priority among those three players, since McGee and Millsap signed for considerably less in Phoenix and Brooklyn, respectively.
To help fill the hole in the frontcourt, Denver used a portion of its mid-level exception to sign Jeff Green, another versatile forward who can play multiple positions and handle a variety of defensive assignments. Investing in the two Greens rather than McGee and Millsap indicates the Nuggets are comfortable leaning into more switchable lineups and don’t necessarily feel the need to have a traditional center backing up Jokic.
The Nuggets’ other key addition this offseason was first-round pick Bones Hyland, who will look to carve out a role in the rotation as a rookie. Hyland is an intriguing prospect and has shown real upside in the preseason, but if the team decides he’s not ready for a regular role quite yet, it won’t be a setback — even without Murray, there’s enough depth in the backcourt that Denver can afford to be patient with Hyland, like it has been with other draftees Zeke Nnaji and Bol Bol. For what it’s worth though, I think Hyland has a better chance than those two of making an impact as a rookie.
The Nuggets’ belief that they have a championship-caliber core was also reflected by the contract extensions the team finalized in September. There had been a sense that the franchise might not be comfortable extending both Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon, but that clearly wasn’t the case — Porter signed a new maximum-salary deal that tacked five years onto his expiring contract, while Gordon received a four-year extension worth at least $86MM.
The commitments to Porter and Gordon – combined with the max contracts already on the books for Jokic and Murray – signal that the Nuggets are willing to be a taxpayer in the coming years, which hasn’t been the case since 2010. It’s a sign of how serious the team is about pushing for a championship within the next few years.
We can debate the wisdom of offering Porter a max deal, given the back problems that sidelined him as a rookie, but he’s coming off a season in which he averaged 19.0 PPG on .542/.445/.791 shooting at age 22 (23.5 PPG on .560/.489/.854 shooting following Murray’s injury). Barring a major step backwards in 2021/22, he was going to get a max offer somewhere next season. By putting that offer on the table ahead of his restricted free agency, the Nuggets managed to get a team-friendly partial guarantee in year five of that deal, with no trade kicker or player option.
Gordon’s value is harder to pin down, since he’s a better defensive player than he is a scorer. Still, his athleticism and cutting ability make him an intriguing complementary player on offense for the Nuggets, especially since being the third, fourth, or even fifth option should put him in position to score more efficiently than he did in Orlando, where he attracted more attention from opposing defenses.
The Nuggets’ upcoming season:
The Nuggets are in something of a holding pattern until Murray returns. Without him, the club is talented enough to make the playoffs in the West, but doesn’t have the pieces to seriously compete for a title.
If Murray can make it back in March or April, Denver could be a tantalizing postseason sleeper, but the team should be careful about expecting too much from the standout guard in 2021/22 — players coming off ACL tears often aren’t quite themselves until 18+ months after the injury, even if they make it back onto the court a year later.
A silver lining of Murray’s absence is that it should give some extra opportunities to players who have been further down the pecking order in Denver’s offensive game plan. Porter, in particular, is in position for a breakout year, while Monte Morris should get a chance to prove he can be a full-time starter.
If everything goes right, the Nuggets could make some noise in the 2022 playoffs, but I suspect – given the uncertainty surrounding Murray’s return – that management may be circling 2023 as the team’s best chance to push for a title.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
OCTOBER 11: Bezhanishvili has officially signed with the Nuggets, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). Denver waived forward Matt Ryan to open up a spot on the 20-man roster.
SEPTEMBER 12: Free agent power forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili will ink an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nuggets, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). The 6’9″ rookie out of Illinois had previously suited up for Denver’s Summer League team.
The big man’s deal is fairly standard for a training camp invitee. Ostensibly, he could play himself into a rotation on the Nuggets’ 15-man roster to kick off the 2021/22 season. That said, the Nuggets are more likely to try him out on their new G League affiliate club, the Grand Rapids Gold. Bezhanishvili could also be in the mix for Denver’s second two-way player slot, alongside the already-signed Markus Howard.
The Nuggets currently have 14 players under standard guaranteed contracts, plus guard PJ Dozier on a non-guaranteed deal.
Bezhanishvili went undrafted this summer after logging three seasons with the Fighting Illini. The 22-year-old averaged 8.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 95 contests with the club, including 57 starts.
He enjoyed his most productive collegiate run as a freshman. During the 2018/19 season, Bezhanishvili averaged 12.5 PPG and 5.2 RPG, in 26.1 MPG, while starting all 33 games. By his junior season, those numbers had declined to 5.1 PPG and 2.7 RPG, while averaging just 14.5 MPG in 31 games as a reserve.
The Nuggets have released forward Matt Ryan, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. Ryan had signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the team prior to the start of training camp last month.
Ryan played at three different school from 2015-20, finishing his college career with Chattanooga after stints at Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. As a senior for Chattanooga, he averaged 15.4 PPG and 4.9 RPG on .423/.359/.879 shooting in 33 games (30.6 MPG). He played for the Cavaliers at the Las Vegas Summer League this August.
Ryan seems likely to become an affiliate player for the Grand Rapids Gold, Denver’s new G League affiliate. He’d be in line for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Gold.
Denver used the newly-opened spot on its 20-man preseason roster to sign Giorgi Bezhanishvili, who reached an Exhibit 10 agreement with the team a month ago.
- Mike Singer of The Denver Post examines multiple Nuggets-related topics in his latest mailbag, including a possible extension for PJ Dozier. Dozier, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, is coming off the best season of his four-year career, having averaged 7.7 points per game in 50 contests.
- In a separate article for the Denver Post, Singer also examined the development of Bol Bol, who was acquired by the Nuggets on the night of the 2019 NBA Draft. Singer notes that Bol appears to be more engaged with the team during the preseason. The big man has only appeared in 39 NBA games to date.
Rookie guard Bones Hyland may be a fixture in the Nuggets‘ rotation when the regular season starts next week, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. The 26th pick in this year’s draft has been impressing teammates throughout camp and the early part of the preseason with his offensive explosiveness and his attitude toward the game.
“Youngin’s fearless, and I love it,” Aaron Gordon said. “His game is nice.”
Hyland filled the stat sheet Friday in a loss to the Timberwolves with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists. However, he also had six turnovers and made a costly defensive mistake that allowed Minnesota to send the game to overtime, which coach Michael Malone recognizes as part of the learning process. Hyland staked his case for regular playing time with an impressive shooting night.
“That’s what I do, honestly,” Hyland said. “I was like 2-for-10 on the first two preseason games. I was like, ‘That’s not me at all, that’s not how I shoot the ball.’ … I make it rain from the three.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Mamadi Diakite was part of championship teams last season in both the G League and the NBA, and now he’s trying to trying to earn a roster spot with the Thunder, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City claimed Diakite on waivers after the Bucks released him two weeks ago, giving them 16 players with standard NBA contracts. He is due to earn $1.5MM this season and $1.8MM next season, although both years are non-guaranteed. “I’m gonna keep fighting,” Diakite said. “I’ve been fighting since I was little. I know I have some disadvantages, but I’m an underdog. I’ll keep fighting, and I’ll keep proving everyone wrong.”
- Timberwolves coach Chris Finch didn’t get much of a chance to work with Malik Beasley after being hired in February, but they know each other from their time in Denver when Beasley was a rookie, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Beasley was suspended by the league for 12 games shortly after Finch arrived in Minnesota, then suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in early April. The coach believes Beasley has matured during his five NBA seasons. “You can tell he’s comfortable with who he is as a player,” Finch said, “what his role and impact on the floor is and just his maturity and overall approach is that of a young vet.”
- Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic was a full participant in practice Friday and Saturday after dealing with a sore shoulder, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News.
The Nuggets have exercised their third-year team option on Zeke Nnaji‘s rookie scale contract, a league source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link). The move guarantees Nnaji’s $2,617,800 salary for the 2022/23 season.
Nnaij was the 22nd overall pick in the 2020 draft, joining the Nuggets after playing his college ball at Arizona. The 20-year-old wasn’t a major part of the team’s rotation as a rookie, but did get into 42 games, averaging 3.2 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 9.5 minutes per contest.
With Nnaji locked in for his third NBA season, the Nuggets will have to make their next major decision on the young forward a year from now, when they’ll have to either pick up or turn down his $4.3MM fourth-year option for the ’23/24 campaign. If that option is exercised, Nnaji would become extension-eligible during the 2023 offseason.
Our tracker of 2022/23 rookie scale option decisions can be found right here.