It was barely over a week ago that the Nuggets had nobody running the team, and it seemed like owner Josh Kroenke was moving into a bigger leadership and decision-making role. The team waited more than two months to make any front office hires after firing GM Calvin Booth in April.
In that time, Kroenke held multiple press conferences talking about how he needed to be more involved and around the building. He also talked about internal development, winning the margins, and even mongered fear over the second apron and an eventual need to trade Nikola Jokic away.
Kroenke finally announced the hirings of Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace to run the front office, but it was unclear how much freedom they would actually have to make changes to the team. In a weird way, it felt like things would be staying the same, with Kroenke keeping an even more watchful eye than before.
Kroenke has allowed front office to revamp team
But in a pleasant surprise, this hasn’t been the case at all. Kroenke has allowed Tenzer and Wallace to come in and make aggressive moves from the jump, completely revamping the roster. They even traded away an ownership favorite in Michael Porter Jr.
The Nuggets have already made two trades and signed two free agents just days into the offseason. Thanks to some nifty cap maneuvering, the team may not even be done, and they’ve created the ability to spend more in free agency with the midlevel exception, and also take on salary via trade with a traded player exception.
These first few moves go a long way to squash any fears over a meddling owner, an overly involved Josh Kroenke, and any kind of restrictions on making moves. To their credit, the Kroenkes seem to have stepped aside and fully allowed Tenzer and Wallace to build the team in their image.
Financial limits remain the final question
The one missing piece that remains to be seen is just how far the Kroenkes will allow the payroll to grow. In dealing away MPJ’s contract, the team saved a good amount of money. They’re likely looking at being a first apron team, but there are still a few factors in play.
The Kroenkes may still want the team to try and cut some money to escape the luxury tax. That would be disappointing for a team that is clearly in the heart of its contention window. They could also go the other way and allow the front office to use the full MLE and TPE. This would significantly raise the tax bill, but could fortify the roster even further.
Either way, the team is set up very well for success next season and beyond, and the Kroenkes deserve credit for allowing these changes and letting the people they hired do their jobs.