Who would have thought it was going to be Spencer Jones who sent all the Denver Nuggets fans into despair about the team's financial future? Yes, it's bleak, and it shows the Nuggets are dreadfully due for a major financial reset, which would overhaul a lot of the roster.
That or they need to decide to pay sky-high levels of luxury tax fines. Every year moving forward. All while knowing in the back of their minds that they're going to have to pay Nikola Jokic a historic contract extension. The timing of it all couldn't be worse.
First off, I do think Jokic signs the extension, even if the Nuggets do a reset, or "gap year" at some point. He wants to win, but he also loves it in Denver, and he's said multiple times that he wants to stay with the Nuggets.
But as we're seeing, just a simple $6 million a year to Spencer Jones would cost the Nuggets an additional $32.2 million in taxes. Violating the second apron as a repeater of the luxury tax gets steep, fast.
The Nuggets need a reset, but they need to clear it with Jokic first
Unfortunately, it puts the issue of a roster reset squarely on the table sooner rather than later. If not this year (nothing is pointing to that yet), perhaps it may happen next year. Without even re-signing Peyton Watson or bringing back Cameron Johnson, the Nuggets have $183 million committed between Jokic, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, and Zeke Nnaji for 2027-28.
The salary cap for this year is $164 million, and the luxury tax is $200 million. You can see how difficult it will be in the years ahead to remain competitive as long as these large contracts are still on the roster. The Nuggets had the window to win a championship for six years, as long as they've had Aaron Gordon, and they got one. Injuries got in the way of the window. But everyone still got paid and rewarded with extensions.
But the reset started last year with the trade of Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson. It continued this year with the Nuggets choosing to find the cheapest rookie talent they could find in Trevon Brazile and Alpha Diallo, so they could save money on the margins. But they're both unknowns, and the Nuggets could end up with two flops as easily as two big hits.
If the Nuggets want to continue to reset and do a full reset, they'll have to shed not only salary but also players like Murray and Gordon. They should get Jokic's blessing first, because you want to make sure the best player in the world is on board with the plan. Especially when he has a player option and can opt out if you really upset him.
Again, that's not likely. But the timing couldn't be worse with Jokic up for an extension.
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