First big domino of offseason looming for Nuggets on Sunday

The champagne is still drying and the streets are littered with confetti in Boston, but life comes at you fast in the NBA and the rest of the league is fully immersed in offseason mode. It’s going to be a busy and important summer in Denver with massive roster decisions that must be made - some in the team’s control, some not.

Much has been made about the bigger moves like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s player option and free agency, potential Michael Porter Jr. trades, and how the team can use the 28th overall pick in the NBA draft. 

The Nuggets option deadline for Vlatko Cancar is Sunday

But the Nuggets have other decisions to make this offseason that will have massive trickle-down effects across the rest of the roster. The first official decision the front office must make comes with a deadline of Sunday, June 23rd in the shape of a team-option for Vlatko Cancar.

Cancar was drafted in 2017 by the Nuggets, but the Slovenian didn’t come over to the NBA until the 2019-20 season. The 6’8” 27-year-old forward has made steady progress each season and was on his way to carving out a small role in the Nuggets’ rotation, but an ACL tear required surgery and caused him to miss the entire 2023-24 season.

Now the Nuggets have to decide whether or not to exercise a $2.35 million option for next season by Sunday. If they don’t pick up the option, Cancar would immediately become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and would be eligible to sign with any team.

The case for picking up the option

On one hand, Cancar is still a relatively young player who could be a nice, shooting, big wing for a cheap deal. That would be a huge boon for the Nuggets’ rotation. One could easily argue that Cancar has some sneaky upside still and this could be the team’s cheapest and easiest path to adding someone to the rotation.

The case for declining the option

But on the other hand, Cancar just missed an entire season with a serious knee injury. He was a fringe rotation player even before the injury and now he’ll be battling to recover physically as well. There’s a reasonable chance that even if he can get back to full health, Cancar may never be an impactful NBA player, and even on a minimum deal he could represent a waste of a roster spot.

The verdict

Ultimately this is a tough call but the pros outweigh the cons. The Nuggets are already very limited in terms of spending power this offseason. Getting to see another year of Cancar on a minimum deal is a worthy swing that comes with virtually no risk.