Sure, the Denver Nuggets have had a tough road to navigate this offseason due to the salary cap constraints of being a team above the NBA's second-apron luxury tax penalty threshold. But the way they navigated it was almost like they had a broken version of Google Maps. And given the fact that they were cutting costs and still remain the only team in second-apron purgatory, they do deserve all the flak they're currently getting from their critics.
The front office does deserve at least a little credit for their creativity in saving a few bucks with their signings of Alpha Diallo and Trevon Brazile. Two rookies who will take up the least amount of cap space possible thanks to signing rookie-scale minimum salary contracts for the 2026-27 season. The Nuggets also did a good job bringing in DeMar DeRozan and Marvin Bagley III, two veterans who will make immediate impacts off the bench.
But that's where the credit ends.
The critics have been harsh on the Nuggets' front office
Sam Quinn of CBS Sports ranked the Nuggets the 26th-worst front office in basketball out of 30. At least they didn't hit the bottom? Quinn said it bluntly. "The last year of so has been a train wreck." And he's right. The Nuggets have only become less talented overall while also staying in the same salary cap situation. Quinn notes the Michael Porter Jr. trade and the Christian Braun extension as two big reasons for the poor ranking.
But the flak didn't stop with Quinn. They also took a stinging hit from The Ringer NBA Show and co-host Michael Pina. Pina said, "I just wrote about them {the Nuggets}, and the stink of their off-season. And how they are simultaneously cutting costs while being the only team in the second apron, which is like, really hard to do and pathetic, and they're kind of squandering Jokic's prime."
Pathetic? Ouch, but mostly true. The Oklahoma City Thunder were in an even worse salary cap position this offseason. But with General Manager Sam Presti at the helm, the Thunder traded Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, and Lu Dort in three separate trades to bring the Thunder back under the second apron. The Thunder also received the first-place spot in Quinn's rankings. Go figure. The Thunder seem to always be a step ahead, while the Nuggets seem to be two steps behind.
To be fair, some issues currently facing the Nuggets' front office came from poor decisions by former General Manager Calvin Booth, who traded away many of the draft picks the Nuggets could have used to entice other teams to take a bad contract off their hands. Instead, the Nuggets will likely be forced to spend the draft capital they've acquired in their draft-night trade that led to Brazile, and the sign-and-trade of Peyton Watson to get off whichever contract on the roster that gets them under the second apron.
The Nuggets' front office has work to do
The Nuggets' front office is in a tough spot, but they've done nothing to work back under the second apron, outside of cutting Jonas Valanciunas to move off the $10 million guaranteed salary he was owed this year. They're still projected at $3.15 million over the second apron and on pace for an approximate $75 million tax bill, which is more tax than the Nuggets have paid in total since the tax's inception.
Sure, it seems harsh. But the Nuggets' front office hasn't shown that they're taking steps in the right direction for a couple of years, and they deserve the criticism they've received.
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