No. 3 - Vlatko Cancar
This one is truly tough to call as Vlatko was out for almost the entire season as he suffered a torn ACL that required surgery. Now the Nuggets have a team option for $2.35 million for next season for Cancar.
Ultimately, my gut says the Nuggets exercise the option and bring Cancar back for another season. The deal is just too cheap and Cancar has real upside off the bench. He’s still just 27 years old and he’s shown some flashes in the league at times.
The Nuggets have obviously liked what they’ve seen in the past and for this money, why would they give up on him now? If anything, this could be an opportunity to strike gold and steal some value as a healthy Cancar should easily outperform this salary next season.
He’s worth a shot at getting back to full health and being able to crack the rotation. At the end of the day, I don’t think the Nuggets can find a better player with more upside for this price on the open market so I think Vlatko will most likely be back in Denver next season battling for a spot in the rotation.