Ranking Denver Nuggets free agents by likelihood to return next season
By Ben Handler
The NBA offseason officially began for all 30 teams late on Monday night after the Celtics put away the Mavericks to win the championship. All eyes are on next week’s draft and then the start of free agency. But one new rule gave teams the ability to start negotiating and agreeing to new contracts with their own free agents as soon as the Finals end.
We saw the impact of this rule almost immediately as the Indiana Pacers were quick to work out a new contract with their key trade deadline acquisition, Pascal Siakam. He likely won’t be the last pending free agent to agree to a new deal before the free agency window officially opens for all teams.
This is a new wrinkle that could alter the free agency landscape and really the whole offseason. It gets one to think about different teams and what they can accomplish at the moment. For the Nuggets, this is a critical offseason with massive decisions to come that will affect the franchise for years to come.
Including team and player options (not counting rookie contract options that are near-locks to be exercised) the Nuggets have five players set to hit free agency. They range from key starters to pure benchwarmers. But every dollar and every roster spot will be incredibly important going forward. So let’s look at each Denver free agent and rank them from least likely to return next season to most.
No. 5 - DeAndre Jordan
Jordan has been a great locker room guy and has become a solid veteran leader and presence in Denver. But his utility as a player in this league is gone. He’s not a viable backup center for Nikola Jokic anymore (frankly he hasn’t been for several years) and he just doesn’t bring enough to the table to justify a roster spot.
The position would be better served for a young prospect with upside or another veteran signing who could actually contribute. If Jordan is that great as a bench guy then just make him an assistant coach. But one of the key needs for this team is backup bigs and Jordan has been a big part of that hole.
The spot should be used on someone who could conceivably play in a playoff game and that’s not Jordan at this point in his career. Thank you for your service, DeAndre, but if the team gives him another contract that would be extremely frustrating.