The Denver Nuggets won’t have Torrey Craig on the roster for the 2020-21 season.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Denver Nuggets have pulled Torrey Craig’s qualifying offer, making the 29-year-old wing an unrestricted free agent.
Denver has pulled the qualifying offer on forward Torrey Craig, which allows him to become an unrestricted free agent, source tells ESPN. The Nuggets have valued Craig, but ran out of roster spots for him.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 21, 2020
Wojnarowski’s report adds that although the Nuggets valued Craig, they were unable to retain him because they ran out of roster spots. To that point, although Denver has one roster spot left, they’re determined to use it on a backup center to replace Mason Plumlee (per the Denver Post’s Mike Singer).
The news that Craig’s qualifying offer was rescinded was unexpected, particularly with the Nuggets’ lack of reliable perimeter defenders.
With the news that Denver’s signing power forward JaMychal Green and bringing back power forward Paul Millsap, it appeared possible that the Nuggets would simply play the 6’9″ Green as Nikola Jokic’s backup. However, it now appears that Denver will be playing Michael Porter Jr. at small forward — where he may start or come off of the bench.
PG: Jamal Murray, Facundo Campazzo, R.J. Hampton SG: Gary Harris, Monte Morris, P.J. Dozier SF: Michael Porter Jr., Will Barton, Vlatko Cancar PF: Paul Millsap, JaMychal Green, Bol Bol C: Nikola Jokic, Zeke Nnaji Two-Way Contracts: Markus Howard
There are still a couple of intriguing centers remaining on the free agent market, like Marc Gasol, Aron Baynes and Nerlens Noel.
Hopefully, they can bring the level of toughness that Craig brought consistently, as that will be what the Nuggets miss the most from his absence.
Who do you think the Nuggets will sign with their last roster spot? Let us know on Twitter @Nugg_Love.