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The Denver Nuggets guide to the 2018 off season

By Grayson Moore

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Mark Tatum, NBA's deputy commissioner, announces the Denver Nuggets as the #7 pick during the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Mark Tatum, NBA's deputy commissioner, announces the Denver Nuggets as the #7 pick during the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) /

  1.  Trade the pick for salary cap relief

The Nuggets are in danger of becoming the next Trailblazers. I mean that in the sense of a very talented roster with a top 20 player in the league, but with a few very overpaid players that prevent the team from getting ahead.

The Nuggets currently have 4 players with 8-digit salaries(not counting Gary Harris, who will make that number 5 next season), and with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray nearing the end of their rookie deals, they could get trapped with their current roster for the next several years, stuck on the edge of contention but never quite getting there.

To avoid that possible future from becoming a reality, they might have to attach this pick as a sweetener for one of their bad contracts.

My personal suggestion would be trading Kenneth Faried and the 14th overall pick to the Hawks. Faried, while he has been a fan-favorite in Denver, fell out of Mike Malone’s rotation completely by the end of the year, and is due to be paid 13.8 million next year.

The Hawks have shown interest in a trade for Faried, and our very own Mathew Huff wrote about why we should let them take him.

Another option would be trading Darrell Arthur and the pick to a team with cap space(Arthur has a $7.8 million contract next year), or Wilson Chandler(owed 12.8 million next year) and the pick to attempt to get another piece back, as Chandler is still a serviceable player.