The Denver Nuggets are running out of room, and the bill for waiting is getting uglier by the day.
Right now, Denver is the only team in the NBA sitting above the second-apron penalty line. That matters a lot, because if the Nuggets keep carrying this salary all season, they’re staring at a $75 million tax bill for crossing the $221.6 million threshold. There’s also a longer-term bite: their 2034 first-round pick would be frozen and untradable.
That’s a nasty place to be for a team that just added draft capital this summer. The Nuggets have only one tradeable first-round pick, the one they recently got from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Peyton Watson sign-and-trade.
On top of that, they picked up three second-rounders. But those assets may not stay in Denver for long if the front office has to use them to clean up the books.
The problem is that the market already knows Denver is under pressure. According to the Denver Post’s Bennett Durando, the Nuggets had already turned away Cameron Johnson dump deals because other teams wanted draft picks attached. That’s the price of urgency: once everyone sees you need out, they ask for something back.
There’s a recent blueprint for how expensive that kind of move can get. Last year, Denver had to send out its 2031 first-round pick to move Michael Porter Jr.’s salary to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Cameron Johnson’s smaller deal, saving about $17.2 million.
And this offseason, the Oklahoma City Thunder spent seven future second-round picks across three trades to unload the contracts of Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Isiah Joe, clearing $38.2 million. The difference was timing.
Oklahoma City got under the second apron early.
Denver hasn’t done that, and now the clock is part of the problem. The later the Nuggets wait, the more leverage they give away in any salary dump. That leaves Kroenke Sports Entertainment with a decision to make: absorb the tax hit and keep that 2034 first-rounder frozen, or use draft assets to get back under the line and save more than $20 million in luxury tax payments.
At this point, the smart money says the picks are the cost of doing business.
In Other News...
Nuggets Didn't Trade Peyton Watson For Talent And That Matters
The Nuggets moved Peyton Watson to Cleveland and, in return, chose not to bring back a player who could help right away. Instead, Denver added draft capital and a little more breathing room, part of a broader plan to clear roster space and protect salary cap flexibility heading into the 2026-27 season.
What stands out is how the front office is treating the future pick it got back. Rather than viewing it as a distant prize, Denver sees it as an asset that can be used in another deal long before 2031, which says plenty about how the Nuggets are balancing present needs with the urge to stay nimble for whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Had Eyes On A Peyton Watson Trade Piece They Couldnt Get
The Nuggets spent part of the offseason with one eye on Peyton Watson and another on the kind of young wing talent that could have made a deal worth exploring. Milwaukee was among the teams showing interest in Watson, and preliminary conversations even drifted into the possibility of Jaime Jaquez Jr. being part of the framework, a player Denver had reason to view as an appealing piece if the talks ever moved past the exploratory stage.
But those discussions never got to the point where Denver had an actual offer to weigh, and that left the Nuggets waiting on a scenario that never quite materialized. Milwaukee ultimately kept Jaquez out of trade talks, leaving Watson in Denver and the Bucks to move on without testing how far the market might have gone. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Face A Familiar Roster Dilemma With Real Depth Implications
Denver already has 14 of its 15 roster spots spoken for, which is enough to meet the NBAs minimum, and that leaves the Nuggets once again weighing whether to keep a slot open as the season approaches. With salary-cap pressure and the luxury tax looming over the roster, the front office has reason to be patient, especially if a cleaner path to filling out the bench only emerges later through salary-dump moves.
It is a familiar sort of roster math for a team trying to stay competitive without digging itself deeper financially. The Nuggets went through a similar setup last season, waiting until after the trade deadline to finish the job, and the way they handle this final spot could shape not just the opening-night group but also how much flexibility they preserve for the rest of the year. [Read more 🡒]