The Denver Nuggets have gotten themselves into a bit of a salary cap pickle, and if they don't act quickly to shed salary, the stakes will continue to rise. As it stands, the Nuggets are the only team in the NBA currently over the second-apron penalty threshold, and they're likely to squeeze themselves out of the draft capital they've acquired this summer due to their front office's poor planning.
The closer the trade deadline gets, the closer the Nuggets push themselves to finishing the season in the second apron. A fate no team in the league wanted this year, including the NBA Champion New York Knicks. Not only would the Nuggets face a $75 million tax bill for violating the $221.6 million threshold, but if they remained at their current salary all season, their 2034 first-round pick would be frozen and untradable.
The Nuggets only have one tradeable first-round pick as it is, recently acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Peyton Watson sign-and-trade. They also added three second-round picks to their trade arsenal. But they probably won't hang onto them for very long.
Precedent shows that the Nuggets will lose picks to cut salary in a trade
It was reported this week by the Denver Post's Bennett Durando that the Nuggets had already rebuffed offers for Cameron Johnson to dump his salary partly because other teams' front offices asked for draft picks to be attached. Of course they did. If they were going to do the Nuggets a favor, they needed something in return.
Last year, the Nuggets were forced to give up their 2031 first-round pick to dump Michael Porter Jr.'s salary to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Cameron Johnson's smaller salary. A net savings of about $17.2 million
And this offseason, the Oklahoma City Thunder were forced to part with seven future second-round picks in three separate trades to move off the contracts of Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Isiah Joe. They shed $38.2 million in salary. But they were smart. They got under the second apron early.
The Nuggets may have to part with more picks than they want because of the time crunch. That, or the Kroenke Sports Entertainment group, the Nuggets' owners, is going to have to have a reckoning about whether or not they want to just sit on that 2034 first-round pick. Of course, getting back under the second apron would save them more than $20 million dollars in taxes, too.
I guess we'll find out soon enough what the Nuggets value more. Just keeping that first-round pick frozen or avoiding the extra luxury tax fees. Most likely, it'll be the latter, and the newly acquired picks will be dealt.
Add us as a preferred source on Google