Nuggets owners will absolutely be forced to pay the piper this offseason

A lot of it has been masked by a deeper roster and a mostly fun season, but the Nuggets have operated like a very cheap franchise recently. Opting to duck the luxury tax in a year of Nikola Jokic’s prime when everyone is healthy is a bold move, that’s for sure. 

That’s a big reason why the Nuggets weren’t active at the trade deadline (their only move was actually dumping Hunter Tyson to avoid the tax), and it will surely impact the way they operate for the rest of this season.

Luckily, they finally converted Spencer Jones’ two-way deal, but regardless of the rhetoric they put out, this team is not going to add any player off the buyout market if it puts them back above the tax. It’s not going to happen. The sooner fans accept that reality, the better.

And the thing is, there’s a reasonable argument for this. Shedding MPJ’s salary was a move that made sense, and it has allowed them to solve some of their glut and diversify the roster with cheap, veteran players. If everyone is healthy, they’ve got as good a chance as anyone to win it all, and it’s hard to say financial reasons have actually prevented them from making upgrades.

Nuggets need to be ready to spend for the rest of this decade

There are reasons to get out of the tax beyond just saving the owner money, and when the team is this close to avoiding it, it makes strategic sense. So Stan Kroenke is off the hook. For now. This all means nothing if the Kroenkes don’t fly right back over the tax next season and invest every penny they possibly can into this roster.

It’s one thing to cheap out for one year when everything has worked out, but it can’t happen again. Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun’s extensions both kick in next season, Peyton Watson will be a restricted free agent, and Jokic is due to sign a new supermax extension. The roster is going to be extremely expensive, even without bringing back Watson or any other free agents.

But that’s what it takes to compete at the highest level, and with Jokic set to be 31 years old, the next few years have to be maximized at all costs. That means finding a way to bring back Watson without selling off meaningful players or gutting the bench.

The Nuggets have struck gold with a lot of players, and they have the means to keep them around for the next few years, but they need to be willing to spend. They’ve done the hard part in building the roster, but to put them over the hump and build a potential dynasty, the Kroenkes need to sign the checks. Until that happens, be very skeptical.