Grading Denver Nuggets’ Zeke Nnaji extension

The NBA’s extension deadline is almost over, as it ends as soon as the regular season starts. For the Denver Nuggets, they want to retain as much talent as they have on their roster to be able to continue to try and compete for an NBA championship.

A lot of players have recently got extensions, most being players from the 2020 NBA Draft class. In that draft class, Denver drafted guard R.J. Hampton and big man Zeke Nnaji. Hampton was dealt to the Orlando Magic for Aaron Gordon a few years ago, and that trade was a huge win for the Nuggets looking back at it.

Zeke Nnaji, though, was an interesting prospect. He has not touched the floor in his career. Sure, he played 56 games last year, but only for 13.7 minutes per game last season, and he only played 5 games in the playoffs for 2.4 minutes per game.

He ultimately was given a contract extension from the Denver Nuggets, which was announced by Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday night.

$32 million for Nnaji is a solid increase in salary, especially considering his lack of minutes given throughout his three seasons as a Nugget. Given the lack of depth on the Denver Nuggets roster, it makes sense that they still want to hold on to a player like Nnaji, who is still only 22 years old.

Given his lack of rim protection, the Nuggets could have wanted a better player on the roster, especially considering Nikola Jokic’s lack of defense and versatility on that end of the court.

He shot 40.7 percent from distance in his rookie year and then shot 46.3 percent from beyond the arc in his sophomore season. His accuracy fell off a cliff last season, as he shot 26.2 percent from the 3-point arc then. This was a big reason why he was not given a lot of playing time.

For the Denver Nuggets, I will give this signing a B.

Giving the Denver Nuggets a B is a bit high, as I do not know how high his ceiling is. Considering he won’t be the starter this season with both Aaron Gordon and Jokic in the frontcourt means he’ll be a backup.

For Nnaji, this is a good signing. His production could dip even more this season, and that contract is guaranteed, meaning he will get $32 million practically no matter what. Maybe he can get an increase in productivity considering the lack of big man depth on the bench right now, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be a building block for the future.

All in all, this is a solid move by the Denver Nuggets to retain a bit of their youth and try to keep their limited bench talent intact. Will Nnaji be a focal point off of the bench this season? It’s hard to say, but at least we know that the Nuggets have faith in him and are willing to invest in his future in Denver.