Paul Millsap makes the Denver Nuggets a stable NBA Finals contender

The Denver Nuggets picked up the $30.4 million team option for the final year of Paul Millsap’s contract, a move that was much-needed if the Nuggets were to continue to fight for a championship with their current core intact.

Before I break down and grade the Nuggets choosing to retain Paul Millsap at his $30.4 million figure, I’ll acknowledge the obvious thing that hangs over every move the Denver Nuggets make this offseason: much of how you view their offseason is going to be based on how important you think last season’s playoff run (to the Western Conference Semifinals) was.

Despite the coming up one game short of a Western Conference Finals appearance, I personally believe the Nuggets should view the 2018-19 season as a colossal success worth building on, even more so considering the now dramatically different looking Western Conference.

Looking at the decision to opt in to the last year of Millsap’s contract through that lens helps illustrate why I feel so strongly about the move.

The Denver Nuggets chose to stand pat as the hierarchy of the league completely changed around them.

Their main reasoning being that letting go of Millsap (and Trey Lyles) would have only opened up about $19 million is salary cap space, which isn’t an ideal amount of space when it comes to finding a solid power forward who can bring a strong defensive presence next to Jokic.

On top of the fact that the Nuggets wouldn’t have enough money to entice a Millsap replacement this offseason, there is also the issue that such a player doesn’t really exist on the market.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a young, defensive-minded forward who could be a solid fit, but players of his ilk are more speculative plays, not a surefire contributor in a high-leverage situation such as the 34-year old Millsap.

In the 2018-19 season the Millsap-Jokic duo posted a +8.6 Net Rating over 1524 minutes per NBA.com, the second highest mark on the team.

Retaining Millsap not only greatly increases the chances of Jokic making a legitimate run at the NBA MVP award in 2020, but it also allows the Nuggets to continue to be patient in making Trey Lyles—should he be retained—a bigger part of the rotation and long-term plan moving forward.

The Nuggets extended a qualifying offer to Lyles, making him a restricted free agent. Second-year players Jarred Vanderbit and Thomas Welsh, rookie Michael Porter Jr. and  team could probably snag him for the right price, but Millsap is the stabilizing force that the Nuggets couldn’t afford to lose.

Simply put, Millsap was amazing in his second season with the Nuggets. Per Cleaning the Glass, Millsap finished with a +10.9 efficiency differential (team points scored minus team points allowed), the second highest of his career.

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The only reason this move didn’t get an A+ from me was that personally, I would have preferred to restructure Millsap’s deal to open up more salary cap space in the present.

This would’ve made it easier to chase bigger fish like Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and more realistically, it would’ve allowed them to go after players like Tobias Harris, Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson.

The Denver Nuggets can still put together probably the best package in the league should go after a star player in the trade market, with their combination of young talent and solid veterans.

But the Nuggets have shown that they intend to stay the course, committing to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray leading this team to where they want to go.

Opting in to the last year of Millsap’s deal wasn’t the most exciting move of NBA offseason, but between his importance to the team defense and the fact that keeping him didn’t stop the Nuggets from adding Jerami Grant, keeping Millsap on the last $30 million of his contract was a slam dunk move for the Nuggets.

Grade: A-