The Denver Nuggets struck gold last year by signing Tim Hardaway Jr. to a one-year minimum contract for just under $2.3 million. The 13-year veteran had a resurgence with the Nuggets after a fall-off season with the Detroit Pistons in the final year of his contract, including a third-place finish in the Sixth Man of the Year Award voting. Because of the Nuggets' salary-cap woes and their likely refusal to violate the NBA's second apron penalty threshold, he very well could have played himself into a raise, but with some other team.
The latest from Marc Stein and Jake Fischer in The Stein Line (subscription required) has sour news for anyone hoping for a part-deux season with THJ.
"It's also increasingly anticipated that veteran center Jonas Valanciunas will not be back and the same might prove true for veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr."
We all knew the writing was on the wall with Big Val, as he's already got other plans to go play in Europe, and cutting him to save $8 million next season just made sense for the Nuggets. But there was a glimmer of hope that the Nuggets could step up and pay a little more than the minimum for Hardaway.
The Nuggets made a savvy cost-cutting move, but it may not be enough
The Nuggets made a trade during the NBA Draft that saw them flip the 26th pick for the 35th pick plus two future second-round picks from the San Antonio Spurs. It was a no-brainer trade for the Nuggets to restock the future draft picks.
But there was an underlying bonus with the trade. The Nuggets got out from under the guaranteed contract that goes to a first-round pick, and instead, they can sign one of their second-round draft picks or an undrafted free agent rookie to a minimum deal that saves the Nuggets roughly $1.7 million in cap space.
The prevailing thought was that the move could be enough to re-sign Hardaway, as it represents more than a 50% raise. But this rumor pours some cold water on that idea. Hopefully, the Nuggets and Hardaway can come to some sort of low-cost option that works for both sides, because the more the Nuggets go backward, the more they run into the chance of upsetting Nikola Jokic.
Jokic could be delaying the signing of his extension to see what kind of roster the Nuggets are going to put around him. Failing to re-sign Hardaway could be a signal to Jokic that the Nuggets aren't willing to spend around him right now, and that could spell doom for the Nuggets.
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