3 most underpaid Nuggets players on next season's roster

2.) Aaron Gordon - 2 years, $45.68 million

This contract has aged like fine wine for the Nuggets and now Gordon looks vastly underpaid for his contributions as the third-best player on a contender. He’s been worth every penny and then some and makes far less money than many of his contemporaries around the league.

While this has been great for Denver, it’s a bit of a gift and curse as Gordon is almost guaranteed to opt out of his player option for next season. So he’s essentially entering the final year of his deal and the Nuggets will need to give him a large extension, or he’ll hit free agency and they’ll risk losing him for nothing a la Caldwell-Pope.

Hopefully, the Nuggets can work out an extension for 140% of Gordon’s current contract and keep him in Denver for the rest of his prime. That would still be a fairly team-friendly deal though and there’s a chance that Gordon would rather hit the open market for one more massive payday. 

If that’s the case, things could get very dicey for the Nuggets, and depending on how the season is going, they may have to make an uncomfortable decision about trading a franchise legend. It won’t be easy, and likely not popular, but they simply can’t afford to lose another key player for nothing.