The Denver Nuggets are facing major salary cap issues this season. They're still the only team in the NBA over the second apron luxury tax penalty threshold. Unfortunately, they've got a lot of money on the books for 2027-28 as well, and if they don't think ahead, they'll run into similar issues next year. That's why they've got an easy decision to make with DaRon Holmes II's team option for 2027-28. Decline it, save the $5.5 million, and use it toward a player they may actually use in the rotation next season.
The deadline for the Nuggets to make their decision is approaching soon, with a decision needed by October 31st. But after the first preseason game, and seeing as how Holmes wasn't even ahead of Zeke Nnaji on the depth chart, and he was clearly behind rookie second-round draft pick Trevon Brazile, it should be an easy one for the Nuggets.
Holmes isn't worth $5.5 million next year
Clearing up $5.5 million in cap space is no small number. That's two veterans on the minimum, and most of the way to a taxpayer mid-level exemption, which is $6.5 million, and what the Nuggets lost Tim Hardaway Jr. to when he signed with the Miami Heat.
Holmes was the 22nd overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns, and at the time, the Nuggets saw something they liked. They traded their own 28th pick plus three second-round picks to acquire Holmes. But now, it's just another one of former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth's many blunders.
It's unfortunate for Holmes, who spent his rookie season sidelined after suffering a torn right Achilles tendon in his first Las Vegas Summer League game. He didn't make his Nuggets debut until last year, and outside of a few starts that failed to produce much while Nikola Jokic was sidelined, he mostly saw garbage time.
Now that Holmes is seemingly behind Nnaji on the depth chart, it just doesn't make sense to keep him around next year when the Nuggets can save a couple million and bring in a vet on a minimum contract for the same production. Plus, the Nuggets already inked Brazile to a four-year, $9.3 million deal this summer. And he's now ahead of Holmes, at least after one preseason game, on the depth chart, too.
That's why it's a very easy choice for the Nuggets to decline Holmes' team option for next year. It just makes sense.
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