NBA Free Agency: Paul Millsap signs three-year, $90 million deal with Denver Nuggets
By John Buhler
Free agent power forward Paul Millsap signs a massive three-year deal worth $90 million to go play for the Denver Nuggets. He makes Denver a playoff team.
After four straight years as an All-Star in the Eastern Conference with the Atlanta Hawks, power forward Paul Millsap will be making a return to the Western Conference in 2017 NBA free agency. According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, Paul Millsap has agreed to a three-year, $90M deal with the Denver Nuggets.
For as much as the Atlanta faithful hate to see their best player go, the writing was on the wall for Millsap as early as last summer. Atlanta put Millsap on the trading block around this time last year to be able to re-sign Al Horford after signing Dwight Howard. Horford signed with the Boston Celtics last summer. Howard has since been traded to the Charlotte Hornets.
Denver gets a great player that is in the back-end of his prime. His days as an All-Star might be over being in the Western Conference and all, but he is an absolutely perfect power forward to pair next to budding superstar center Nikola Jokic in Denver.
Free agent Paul Millsap has agreed to a three-year, $90M with the Denver Nuggets, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2017
Atlanta never really made any serious attempt to re-sign Millsap. This is because the Hawks organization is undergoing an honest rebuild at the hands of new general manager Travis Schlenk. Millsap had considered teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns before it became obvious that Denver was his preferred landing spot.
The Nuggets have wallowed in obscurity pretty much since the forced Carmelo Anthony trade to the New York Knicks in 2011. Their big piece in return in small forward Danilo Gallinari was never really healthy in a Nuggets uniform. The Millsap signing almost guarantees that he won’t be back in his unrestricted free agency.
Denver finished on the outside looking in of the 2017 Western Conference Playoffs as the No. 9 seed. Adding Millsap doesn’t make the Nuggets championship-caliber by any means, but he does make them a team capable of reaching the 2018 NBA Playoffs.
Next: NBA Free Agency Tracker 2017
He has earned every penny of that $90 million he garnered from the Nuggets after four outstanding years in Atlanta. Millsap will be greatly missed in Georgia, but Colorado has found pay dirt in the form of their new power forward.