The Bucks ( Bobby Portis) and Clippers (Nic Batum) have both successfully used this trick to retain free agents they probably should have lost.īut it puts all of the risk on Brown's shoulders. Early Bird free agents can stay put and receive a 75% raise, taking Brown up to around $14 million-$15 million per year on a long-term deal. Suddenly, Denver's flexibility in re-signing him grows significantly. Doing so would allow him to become a free agent again next offseason, when his non-Bird rights will bump up to early Bird rights. And money is not everything." So how can the Nuggets keep Brown? There are two paths here, and neither is especially easy.ĭenver's preference would be for Brown to accept that $7.8 million figure one a one-year deal, perhaps with a player option for next season. "I want to stay," Brown told the Denver Post's Mike Singer. There are scenarios in which he earns that much next season. Brown has earned an estimated $15 million in his career. The bidding will likely start at the $12.2 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception and could get even pricier from there. That would take him to around $7.8 million - more than Brown has ever made in a season, but far lower than what the field will be able to offer Brown. Brown is set to become a non-Bird unrestricted free agent this offseason, meaning Denver can only offer him a 20% raise on his salary from last season in order to keep him. How the Nuggets stole him for the taxpayer mid-level exception a year ago is one of last season's great mysteries. Brown was put on this Earth to play with Nikola Jokic. A stout defender who can punch above his weight class, Brown has improved significantly as a shooter, came into the league as a strong cutter and is the rare guard that can operate comfortably on either end of the pick-and-roll. You couldn't design a better Nuggets role player in a lab than Bruce Brown. So what are the stories to watch this Nuggets offseason? Here are the three biggest questions they'll have to answer in the coming weeks. The bulk of the 2023 championship roster will remain in Denver for the foreseeable future.īut there is one key part whose future is still up in the air, and as comfortable as the Nuggets are right now, they are still going to try to add a bit to their roster if possible. Key reserve Christian Braun is locked up as well, and the Nuggets are, thus far, the rare champion not to see any defections from their coaching staff. All five Nuggets starters from last season are under contract, and if Kentavious Caldwell-Pope picks up his player-option, they will be for the 2024-25 season as well. That gap will probably be relatively wide. It's only a matter of how close the field gets. They are going to enter next season as the championship favorite. They're going to spend the next few days and weeks frantically scraping for every last shred of talent they can find in a probably feeble attempt to reach the level where the Nuggets are already safely perched. The rest of the league has to scramble to catch up to the Denver Nuggets. There's a degree of comfort that comes with being the champion.
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