“Don’t let the fact that 11 other Western Conference teams can talk themselves into chasing a playoff berth next season distract you from the other fact that we can too” should be the Denver Nuggets’ motto in 2017-18.
The Nuggets stole the show on Sunday night, for the most part, by signing Paul Millsap to a three-year, $90 million deal, as first relayed by The Vertical’s Shams Charania. Now the focus shifts to Danilo Gallinari’s future, or lack thereof, in Denver.
Or…maybe not.
As The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor noted, the Nuggets aren’t done; they have eyes on free agent George Hill:
Expect the Nuggets to pursue free agent point guard George Hill, if they can dump salary (like Kenneth Faried & Darrell Arthur), per source.
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 3, 2017
This is a good freaking idea. The Nuggets are perfectly positioned to offer sizable contracts to a pair of over-30 contributors—especially when they’ll both likely span just three years, ensuring the rebuild isn’t compromised long term should everything flop.
Granted, the Nuggets don’t have a ton of cap space at the moment. They can get to a little more than $10 million by renouncing Mason Plumlee and Gallinari. It’s going to take at least $5-7 million more to lock down Hill, even with a wildly tepid point guard market.
But the Nuggets can get there, as O’Connor pointed out, by dumping any one of their palatable contracts. Renouncing Plumlee and Gallinari while dealing Darell Arthur gives them between $17 and $18 million in room. Sending Kenneth Faried somewhere would allow them to keep Plumlee’s cap hold.
Point being: The Nuggets have options. And unless George Hill receives more money from the Sacramento Kings, or perhaps New York Knicks, they should be considered real threats to push their chips even further into the center of the table—without actually going all-in.
