Denver Nuggets: Should they bring back Paul Millsap?
By Evan Siegel
The Denver Nuggets have multiple free agent power forwards this coming offseason. Should the team decide to bring back Paul Millsap?
Paul Millsap has enjoyed a tremendous career to this point, and his stops in both Utah and Atlanta helped earn him a gigantic payday in Denver. While the third year of his stint in Denver is on hiatus, Millsap might end up being among the more coveted free agents available, whenever NBA free agency starts.
Millsap is now 35-years-old, and is in the middle of his 14th season. His numbers have slipped little by little over his time in Denver. Millsap’s 12 points per game are the lowest he has averaged since signing with the Nuggets. His 5.9 rebounds are also the lowest during his three years with the team.
But with Mason Plumlee also an unrestricted free agent, it will be difficult for Denver to bring both of them back. Denver may have tried to get out ahead of this when they traded for Jerami Grant, but he himself has a player option that he can exercise worth a little over $9 million.
If Grant opts in to his deal, the Nuggets will be on the hook for that number and will have to begin budgeting for his eventual free agency. If he opts out, he will be the third power forward to jump into unrestricted free agency this offseason. The Nuggets should prioritize bringing back Grant instead of Millsap or Plumlee and look to replenish the depth in the front court through the draft.
Millsap’s age and Plumlee’s up-and-down play leave the Nuggets with a clear option in Grant. He is the team’s most athletic and defensively capable forward, whose three-point clip of of 35 percent will go up further should he see more consistent opportunities. Grant and Torrey Craig would comprise a tremendous defensive combination on the wing, which is important for a team needing help around a defensively challenged center.
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The Nuggets are beginning to hit the point in their long-term cap situation where certain players are going to have to be let go. Millsap and Plumlee figure to be the first two players on the way out the door. The tough personnel decisions the team is going to have to make are going to become more and more frequent, and letting go of Millsap in favor of Grant would serve the team extremely well.