The Denver Nuggets wasted no time after the NBA Draft in their search for more talent to fill up the roster for the upcoming Summer League games. The Nuggets signed three undrafted free agent rookies to Exhibit 10 contracts, and all three will have a chance to showcase themselves for an opportunity at something more with the team this summer.
The Nuggets have signed Mark Mitchell, a 6-foot-9 wing from Missouri, Giovanni Emejuru, a 6-foot-11 big man from Eastern Carolina University, and Aaron Nkrumah, a 6-foot-6 wing from Tennessee State, who is perhaps the gem of the UDFA class, and could have the best shot at making the Nuggets at some point down the road.
The Nuggets need to get younger and add depth, and homegrown talent from the UDFA pool is a great way to try to capitalize on that. These three players will now have the chance to come in and compete for a chance to get an invitation to training camp, and they're on the fast-track path to a two-way contract or even a standard contract if they excel enough. They'll essentially have the same chances as Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins, the Nuggets' two second-round picks.
UDFAs can still make NBA impacts
Even though there isn't much fanfare around any of the UDFA signings, they can still be as important as the organization's draft picks. Spencer Jones was a UDFA signing by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2024, but the Blazers let him go after Summer League, and the Nuggets signed him to a two-way contract, and the rest is history. Jones made himself into a key member of the Nuggets last year, and he's up for a nice contract in free agency this offseason.
UDFAs don't usually pan out that much, but they can. Ben Wallace, the Pistons' longtime center and Hall of Famer, was a UDFA signing. And a more recent example is Austin Reaves, who was an UDFA who signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and has now turned that into a four-year max contract extension worth $185 million five years later.
That's the kind of magic in a bottle the Nuggets will be trying to cook up with their UDFA's, and it could be Nkrumah that does it. Nkrumah was ranked 55th on the FanSided NBA Draft Big Board, and he was ranked 52nd on ESPN's Big Board list, higher than some players who were drafted.
The floor and expectations for all of these UDFA players are very low, and there's a good chance that we never see any of them don a Nuggets jersey. But they're an important part of the NBA processes, and you never know when you may hit gold with one.
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