Nuggets Free Agency: Mason Plumlee won’t cost much

The market for centers in NBA free agency this summer is scarce, which should help the Denver Nuggets keep Mason Plumlee at a good price.

The market for centers in NBA free agency (and through trade) is bleak. Teams overpaid with ridiculous deals for centers last summer when the salary cap exploded and there’s generally too many centers to go around. They can’t all be paid, and the amount that got loaded up with terrible contracts last summer, from Joakim Noah (four years, $72 million), to Miles Plumlee (four years, $50 million), to Ian Mahinmi (four years, $64 million), means there are centers everywhere that teams want to dump and there are too many backups making too much money. This should help the Denver Nuggets’ situation.

Mason Plumlee is a restricted free agent and, so far, there have been no rumors about him in free agency. There doesn’t seem to be any interest after he dropped off later in the season after leaving the Portland Trail Blazers to become Nikola Jokic’s backup in Denver, and there just isn’t enough money going around for teams to pay out on centers. The increase of small-ball helps further still, and if Plumlee isn’t going to be well integrated into an offense as a passer, he doesn’t have the shot blocking or explosiveness of a low-maintenance, pick-and-roll maestro center that can necessarily thrive anywhere, either.

The Boston Celtics have been one of the few teams in dire need of size, rebounding and a big center, yet they still only agreed to a one-year, $4.3 million deal with Aron Baynes. Admittedly, they didn’t have much cap space at all (and they have the appeal of a contender), but the point is that decent centers aren’t making much this year.

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The apparent lack of interest in Plumlee only helps keep his cost down. He’s one of the league’s better passing centers, and even though he clearly didn’t play his best to end the year with the Nuggets, it was a different situation and it’s tough to start a new role on the fly after he was so heavily involved in the Blazers’ offense. With a whole summer and training camp to get used to his Nuggets teammates if he’s re-signed, Plumlee should look better next season. He can be used off the bench to facilitate from the high post and pass out of pick-and-rolls, he can run the floor and despite not being a strong rebounder or shot blocker, he can help protect the rim to a degree.

If Plumlee was going to make a lot of money this summer, the Nuggets would struggle to afford his services after giving up Jusuf Nurkic and a first-round pick for him just five months ago. Instead, it looks like the Nuggets will be able to keep Plumlee at a low price, possibly on a deal around the three-year, $10-12 million mark with a player option on the third year (that’s just a guess, by the way).

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The news around Plumlee and the dwindling money for centers hasn’t given any indication he can make much this summer, which helps give the Nuggets a chance to make things work next season at a good price if they can’t find a better center in their price range.