What next?
That’s the question that keeps popping into my head when it comes to the Denver Nuggets. They’ve rebuilt the roster with young talent. They’ve found a coach players can rally behind. They’ve hired a general manager who can find talent in the most foreign, remote regions of the world.
Now what?
Do they consolidate that talent and trade for an All Star? Do they remain status quo and hope their young assets develop into stars? Do they look to make an incremental improvement this offseason in hopes that they can land a big fish next offseason?
I don’t know. I have my opinions, obviously, but I don’t have the faintest idea what Tim Connelly and Michael Malone have up their sleeves. Yes, both have insinuated on multiple occasions that they’re “not done,” that they’re still on the lookout for a big move. But as we see everyday in the NBA, there’s a lot more talk than action.
What we do know is that the Denver Nuggets have money to blow — a lot of it. Even after the signing of Mike Miller, the Nuggets have $18.86 million in cap space, second most in the league behind the Philadelphia 76ers.
More importantly … they still have to spend $9.45 million to reach the salary cap floor.
Now, the Nuggets technically don’t have to reach that floor. If they don’t, they’ll just end up splitting the remaining money between the rest of the roster, but that’s a rarity — an option, though, nonetheless.
And if they wanted to, the Nuggets could part ways with the non-guaranteed contracts of Joffrey Lauvergne, JaKarr Sampson and Axel Toupane, saving an additional $3.57 million and opening up a total of $22.43 million in cap space ($13.02 million to reach the cap floor).
With 16 players currently under contract (the NBA’s max is 15), the final number is bound to come in somewhere in between, but the point is that the Nuggets have a lot of room to work with.
So, again, what do they do now?
Well, it essentially comes down to two options: spend now or spend later.
Here’s are those could break down:
