Should the Denver Nuggets sign Mario Chalmers?

Longtime NBA point guard Mario Chalmers recently signed with the Denver Nuggets G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. Chalmers has been hinting for months about his want to come back into the NBA on social media.

Chalmers last played in the NBA for the Memphis Grizzlies back in the 2017-18 season, putting up 7.7 points a night on 37.9 percent shooting from the field and 27.7 percent from 3-point range. He has since played for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A,  AEK Athens and Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek Basket League, and Indios de Mayagüez of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (Puerto Rico).

Chalmers best days came in Miami, as he won back-to-back NBA championships in 2012 and 2013 as the starting point guard on the ‘Big 3’ Heat. He shot a career-best 40.9 percent from behind the arc in 2012-13, averaging 8.6 points on a stacked Miami Heat team.

In Chalmers’ most recent game with Grand Rapids on Monday, 20 Dec., just his second game with the team, he shot 1-13 from the field and 0-8 from 3-point range, putting up just four points in 28 minutes of play.

It’s only a small sample size and there are signs there are better days ahead as Chalmers shot 37.4 percent from deep during the 2020-2021 season for Aris in the Greek Basketball League.

If Chalmers were to be called up to the Denver Nuggets, it would likely be for his ability to shoot and lead the bench. Denver already has ample distributors in the starting lineup in Nikola Jokic, Monte Morris, and Aaron Gordon showing more passing ability lately.

Denver ranks 16th in 3-point percentage and seeing that number increase would be the major goal in a G League call-up of Chalmers. With the long-term injuries to Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., Denver has little offensive explosiveness around the league’s MVP and another shooter on the court can only help.

Rookie Bones Hyland has had the second-highest usage rate for Denver thus far while outperforming his expectations as a late first-round pick. Whether that trend will continue, or if Bones will regress with the ball in his hands so much remains to be seen. Chalmers running the point from the bench would surely take away looks from Bones.

Does Denver need to put their trust in a proven, championship veteran past their prime? Or will riding the wave with the hot shooting rookie be successful moving forward? Those are some of the questions Tim Connelly and the Nuggets brass need to ask themselves when deciding whether to bring in outside talent.

With recent COVID outbreaks sweeping the league, the NBA has seen other former players come back into the NBA fold unexpectedly. 40-year-old Joe Johnson, who also has not played in the NBA since 2018, was just signed by Boston following their recent shortages. Lance Stephenson, Chalmers’ Grand Rapids teammate, was just signed by the Atlanta Hawks to fill their newly opened roster spots. Perhaps Mario Chalmers could be the next NBA veteran to see a sudden return to NBA action, as outbreaks continue around the association.