One of the biggest looming concerns for the Denver Nuggets was put to bed on Monday night as Shams Charania of ESPN reported the team signed Aaron Gordon to a four-year, $133 million contract extension. Gordon was set to enter the last year of his deal before a looming player option next summer.
With the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope situation still weighing heavily on fans’ minds, some worries had started to creep in with an even more important player in Gordon set to embark on a seemingly similar scenario. But the team erased any doubt by getting this deal done ahead of the NBA’s regular season tipping off on Tuesday night.
Gordon was eligible to sign a four-year, $150 max extension that would have begun next season. Instead, Gordon did the Nuggets a bit of a favor by agreeing to opt into his deal for next season and tacking on three years at max value starting two seasons from now.
Gordon signs 4-year, $133 million max extension with Nuggets
This will save the Nuggets a significant amount of money next season and will give the team more time to navigate future payroll concerns. Gordon still gets his next five seasons guaranteed, with the last three coming at max value for him.
The team could have agreed on an extension with Gordon at any time this season, but their deadline to opt-in and extend, as he did, was Monday night. In the wake of a somewhat choppy offseason, it’s great to see the team and one of their key players working together for a mutually beneficial agreement.
This is great news for all parties involved and the Nuggets now have their core four players Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Gordon locked up for most of the rest of this decade. They’ve got a cavalry of young, up-and-coming players on the roster that aren’t going anywhere and now it’s time for the team to go out and get the job done.
There should be no more lingering distractions around contracts and they should be able to focus strictly on basketball. We’ve known that the roster is largely set for the foreseeable future, but now the biggest question has been answered.
This version of the Nuggets as we know them doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon. Now let the games begin and let’s see if the team can go out and bring home another title (or more) to Denver.