The Denver Nuggets exited the 2021-22 playoffs in the first round to the Golden State Warriors, and that may not have even been the worst loss of the year for the Nuggets. They made a mistake by not ponying up enough money to keep Tim Connelly that offseason, and it's come back to haunt the Nuggets tremendously five years later.
Connelly left Denver for a larger contract and the prospects of bonuses from the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team Connelly built to beat the Nuggets. Oh, the irony. The man who built the Nuggets could have just ended the Nuggets' core roster he built.
The Nuggets were cheap and didn't offer enough money
The Nuggets were cheap and just didn't offer Connelly enough to stay when they had the option. And he had the option because the Nuggets made a terrible decision to give him an opt-out clause after only three years from his last extension. The Nuggets gave him that option because it allowed them to pay less when he was courted by the Washington Wizards in 2019.
Then in 2022, Connelly took the option. He received a five-year, $40 million offer from the Timberwolves and was given equity in the team based on team performance. Reportedly, the Nuggets' counteroffer was "dwarfed" by the Timberwolves' deal. The Nuggets cut corners, and the first thing Connelly did was build a team to beat them.
Connelly started building to beat the Nuggets right away
He knew the Nuggets were on the verge of their first title the following year, and Connelly knew he had to have something to guard against Nikola Jokic, whom he drafted 41st in the second round of the 2014 NBA draft. So Connelly went to work right out of the gate. Five years later, that decision may have been the one that derails the Nuggets' core.
Connelly traded for Rudy Gobert, and all Gobert did in the Nuggets' first round series was dominate Jokic, and take him and the Nuggets out of their game plans. He had guards that could attack the rim, and the Nuggets couldn't protect it. He brought in physical defenders, and the Nuggets had no answer for the Timberwolves' physicality.
And now the rumor around the Nuggets after the disaster of a first round is that they'll be looking to be cheap once again. The Nuggets are way over the luxury tax threshold and facing penalties next season, but they could also pay fines, get a couple of pieces they need, and put them around Jokic for another couple of years to make a run at another title.
But history shows the Nuggets will probably take the cheaper path and may not learn their lesson yet again.
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