Last season, the Nuggets went into the regular season with a backup front line featuring DeAndre Jordan, Dario Saric, and Zeke Nnaji. That obviously ended disastrously as DJ hasn’t been re-signed and is likely to retire, Saric was dumped to the Kings, and Nnaji now figures to waste away on the Nuggets’ bench.
Surely they tried to move his contract this summer, and perhaps they’ll give him some minutes here and there to boost his trade “value” around the league, but make no mistake, actions speak louder than words. And the team’s actions have made it clear that the 24-year-old Nnaji is not part of their plans.
For one, they brought in Jonas Valanciunas via trade and have been aggressive in getting him to Denver, showing how badly they need him and how important a role he’s slated to play, backing up Nikola Jokic. Beyond that, the team has talked up rookie DaRon Holmes II, and intimated that he’ll be in the rotation from day one.
Add that to the starters, Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon, and that’s four rock-solid rotational bigs. Throw in the possibility to play a bit smaller with Cam Johnson, Peyton Watson, or even Bruce Brown playing the four, and that doesn’t leave a lot of room for Nnaji.
Zeke will be buried on the Nuggets’ bench
There was some hope that after Michael Malone’s ousting, Nnaji could get another shot under David Adelman, but with all of the offseason additions, Zeke is going to be buried on the bench again. At best, he’s the 13th man on this current roster of 14, only likely to be seen above Hunter Tyson.
It’s sad because even after the additions, Nnaji is still slated to be the sixth highest paid player on the team. Even worse, he has another guaranteed season on his deal next year and then a player option for 2027-28. The contract looked bad when it was signed, and it has aged like milk for the Nuggets.
He is basically untradeable and now seems destined to ride the end of the bench as a waste of a roster spot and money for the next three years. Luckily, the new front office has been able to craft the roster in a way so that Denver doesn’t have to rely on Nnaji at all, but it’s still frustrating.
The good news is that his deal should look better as the cap goes up, and as the deal gets closer to its expiration, he should theoretically be easier to trade. But it’s certainly not an ideal situation, and it doesn’t figure to get better any time soon.