The Denver Nuggets signed Collin Gillespie to a second two-way contract for 2023-24 and gave him a chance to compete for playing time with the newly acquired fellow rookie Jalen Pickett for a backup guard spot. Calvin Booth chose not to bring Gillespie back after the season, partly to allow more development for Jalen Pickett. Fast forward two years, and that one backfired. Chalk it up to another one of Booth's legacy pieces that have hit back at the Nuggets in the future.
Per ESPN's Shams Charania, Gillespie intends to sign a role-player-friendly four-year, $48 million deal to return to the Phoenix Suns after a huge success of a season that saw Gillespie set the new Suns franchise record for three-pointers made with 232. Gillespie made the most of the chance the Suns gave him on a two-way contract after the Nuggets let him go, and it's likely the current Nuggets front office and coaching staff want that one back.
Booth chose the wrong guard
Gillespie was given a shot on a two-way contract by the Denver Nuggets after going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft. But a lower leg injury suffered shortly after the ink was dry sidelined Gillespie for the entire 2022-23 season.
He made his debut alongside Pickett, the second-round, 32nd pick of the 2023 NBA Draft. Pickett was acquired by Booth via trade, along with Julian Strawther and Hunter Tyson, so he had high hopes for Pickett. Booth may have also been salty at former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, and he could have chosen to let Gillespie walk because Malone played him more than Pickett at times during their rookie campaigns.
The Denver Post's Bennett Durando said after Booth and Malone's firings that "Malone often played playoff-ineligible Collin Gillespie ahead of Pickett on the depth chart. Other times, he used bench lineups without a point guard," in reference to their disagreement on player utilization.
Coach Malone turned out to be right
Coach Malone may have seen what Gillespie has become, and what Pickett didn't become. Gillespie made the most of his chance with the Suns and averaged 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists for the Suns in 80 games, 58 starts, while shooting 40.1% from three. He would have fit right in for the Nuggets this year as a backup point guard.
Meanwhile, Pickett has never cracked the rotation, and he's likely to be brought back for a fourth year on a team-friendly option at only $2.4 million. Pickett was decent at best in the 18 starts the Nuggets gave him in 2025-26 in the midst of the team's injury woes, and he averaged just 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in those 18 starts.
Pickett was passed over for Tyus Jones in the playoffs and in the Nuggets' final two regular-season games, when all the starters sat out to rest. He isn't likely to make the rotation this coming season either, and yet another poor decision by Booth is coming back to bite the Nuggets. Should have just held onto Gillespie.
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