NBA post-free agency power rankings
15. Denver Nuggets
At some point, we all reckon with the past.
Denver’s foregone mistakes came back to haunt them this summer, and collided head-on with some of their biggest triumphs. The 41st pick-turned-star center Nikola Jokic, eligible for a new contract, inked his max (with no fifth-year option) as the clock stroked midnight on July 1. That set in motion a series of moves giving up future assets to clear salary.
The final price: a 2019 first-round pick, a 2020 second-round pick, a 2021 second, and the rights to swap seconds in the 2022 draft. But by moving Wilson Chandler, Darrell Arthur and Kenneth Faried, the Nuggets’ owners will avoid paying the luxury tax.
That allowed them to feel comfortable signing Will Barton to a new four-year, $54 million deal, in addition to that of Jokic. To round out the roster, Denver added Isaiah Thomas and Torrey Craig on small deals.
The real problem is not the Jokic contract, the Barton contract or even Gary Harris’ 2017 extension. Denver has consistently misread the market, in the draft or free agency, in order to minimize loss in the present. The tax concerns this summer intensified when the team gave Mason Plumlee $41 million in 2017, and two poor draft-night trades with the Jazz allowed them to miss out on the chance to add young talent to their roster.
Denver could well make the playoffs in 2019, but their sacrifices to get there will have been unnecessarily restrictive.