The Denver Nuggets are running into the same kind of financial squeeze that pushed the Boston Celtics into a Jaylen Brown trade, and that has Jamal Murray’s name in the conversation.
Heavy’s Sean Deveney pointed to Denver’s cap picture and suggested the team could eventually be forced into a similar decision. “Maybe?
It’s not likely to happen now, but the finances in Denver are grim. It’s not hard to see a Jaylen Brown situation here,” he wrote.
Brown’s move to the Philadelphia 76ers was one of the biggest swings of the offseason, and salary cap pressure was a major reason Boston made it. Brown had been taking up nearly 35% of the Celtics’ cap, and his supermax deal runs three more years with salaries set to climb to $57 million, $61 million and $64.9 million. With Jayson Tatum also on a similar number, Boston avoided getting trapped in long-term cap trouble when it made the move for Paul George despite the salary-matching.
Denver’s issue is different in details but familiar in shape. The Nuggets are already dealing with the NBA’s second apron restrictions, and they waived and stretched Jonas Valanciunas’ contract this offseason to open about $9 million in tax savings.
There’s more pressure coming from the rest of the roster, too. Aaron Gordon has drawn trade interest and could be another player Denver is pushed to move because of finances. Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray alone make up about $109 million in salary, and the Nuggets have added to that by locking up Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon.
The tax bill is already a real problem. Denver has paid the luxury tax in three of the last four seasons, leaving the franchise close to the repeater tax. And after already making moves tied to cap restrictions, including Peyton Watson’s sign-and-trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the idea of Murray eventually being moved no longer looks far-fetched.
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One of the cleaner ideas floating around league circles is a path that would clear salary and allow the Lakers to add help on the wing, with several moves tied together rather than a single swap. For Denver, the interesting part is the veteran free agent angle attached to the discussion, because it points back to a former title piece who could again be on the move as the Lakers try to solve both their short-term rotation and long-term cap sheet. [Read more 🡒]