In the 2025 offseason, the two local tyrant lines and the stricter luxury tax collection system that will take effect in the new season have become the sword of the top of some teams, and "breaking the deadlock" is their theme.
The new generation of Nuggets management is committed to making progress in the trading market and the free market, and is surviving the dead. After negotiations on deals and signing free agents, the Nuggets currently have 14 people on the roster, with strong troops. Although the total salary is slightly higher than the luxury tax line, there is still huge room for operation in the future.
Guess what mentality does Michael Malone look at the new Nuggets? He may have beaten his chest and stamped his feet at home, and cursed "Both misled me." The only difference between the Nuggets from a deep death to a full-scale market is that they have changed traders. Booth's incompetence wasted Jokic's precious two-year peak, making a champion coach fall into the custodian.
Looking back at this year's playoffs, the Nuggets were eliminated while standing up. They fought to the point where they lost their ammunition and food, and lost to the final champion Thunder in the Western Conference semi-finals.
At that time, the Nuggets were in a dead state and the future was full of uncertainty -
Malone was suddenly dismissed in the last stage of the regular season, and it is unknown whether the acting coach Adelman Jr. can be transferred. Later, Adelman Jr. got the formal contract, and the question that followed was whether he could control this championship team.
After Booth was dismissed, who will be responsible for the operation and build a championship team around Jokic? The Nuggets chose to go the unusual path, and their boss Josh Kroenke let Ben Tengze serve as executive vice president and Jonathan Wallace serves as executive vice president of personnel, and jointly make decisions and be responsible for the operation. These two people are not well-known in the industry. Can they break the deadlock? The outside world is full of doubts.
The Nuggets have severe starting dependence, and the five starting tigers averaged 94.4 points per game, which is a league record since the 1986-87 season. The Nuggets are extremely dependent on Jokic. When he was not on the court in the playoffs, the Nuggets lost 23.9 points in a hundred rounds, and the regular season lost 9.8 points.
Everyone knows that the Nuggets need to strengthen the second team and improve their depth, but the core four-man Nuggets accounts for 82% of the team's salary, and the total salary exceeds the first tycoon line before it starts to operate. It is expected to pay luxury tax for the fourth consecutive year. As a duplicate luxury tax, the team will pay a luxury tax of $36 million that set a record-breaking team history.
The Nuggets can only trade in one first round and one second round.
Since the two rich lines were launched, there are many teams that seem to be in a dead end like the Nuggets. But don't underestimate the ability of NBA team management to understand the rules, exploit rules, and find loopholes in the rules. Last year's Timberwolves (trade with the Knicks) and this year's Bucks are typical. Tengze and Wallace each have their own strengths. The former is proficient in salary cap calculations, while the latter is good at player personnel work. Kroenke said that "joint management decision-making" is an "untraditional approach", but this move did help the Nuggets find a breakout point.
The first strike of the new generation of Nuggets management was towards Porter Jr. Porter Jr. has been in a whirlwind of trading rumors in the past two years, but there is a saying in the circle that since Porter Jr. comes from the University of Missouri like Kroenke, he has a special emotion for Porter Jr. and is unwilling to send him away. In order to break the deadlock, the Nuggets finally made up their minds to take advantage of the first round of 2032 pick to send Porter Jr. in exchange for Cameron Johnson.
No one can predict how high the value of the first round of the Nuggets in 2032 is, at least the Nuggets have found a breakthrough now. Porter's total salary in the next two seasons is $79 million, while Johnson is $43 million. This deal reduces the Nuggets' salary burden a lot, and the total salary is reduced to the luxury tax line, saving $40 million, and also gets a full middle-class special case of $14.1 million.
Regarding Johnson and Porter Jr., basic information that can be clearly defined includes: Johnson is shorter than Porter Jr., and the Nuggets' frontcourt's body shape advantage has declined. But Johnson's defensive ability is far above Porter Jr., and the Nuggets' starting five Tigers are expected to improve their defensive efficiency. Several overlooked or misunderstood information include - In terms of attendance, people's inherent impression is that Porter Jr.'s "Glass Man", but since the 2019-20 season, Porter Jr. has played more than Johnson's 340 games. In the past two seasons, Porter Jr. has played 81 games and 77 games respectively, while Johnson has only 58 games and 57 games respectively (of course it has something to do with the Nets' bad performance). Can Johnson's arrival in Denver improve attendance? His most recent season was only 66 games.
Potter Jr.'s pull-up shot was impressive and had highlights. But under the big sample, Porter Jr.'s pull-up shot was not reliable. Last season, his three-point shooting percentage was only 30.4%, and his 39.3% three-point shooting percentage was supported by a 42.9% catching and shooting three-point shooting percentage. Johnson had 35.9% of the three-pointers last season, and his three-pointers were slightly inferior to Porter Jr. 40.4%, but the gap was not big.
Judging from the frequency and efficiency of attacking around the cover and handing over the thugs, Johnson is more suitable to partner with Jokic and Murray. He is not a simple fixed-point shooter, but can play a high-level mobile turret that participates in tactics.
The requirements for role players' operation and control capabilities have been improved in this era. Johnson is significantly upgraded compared to Porter in this regard. Porter Jr.'s assist-turnover ratio has the highest season last season, with only 1.59. Johnson's lowest season in his career was 1.96, and his six seasons in his career exceeded 2.
If Johnson improves his attendance rate, the Nuggets' new starter, the Five Tigers are expected to play historical offensive efficiency in the new season. After the Nuggets negotiated the deal, they signed back Bruce Brown with their basic salary. It was helpless to lose Brown after winning the championship in the summer of 2023. Brown won a two-year contract of $45 million, and the Nuggets were unable to match it. Brown has been wandering outside for two years and has been in three teams, but he doesn't understand it. Special players like Brown and Payton Jr. may really only have specific teams in charge of instructions.. Now, Brown, who is about to be in his prime at the age of 29, returns to his basic salary, and the Nuggets are full of joy.
This is not the end. The Nuggets reached a deal with the Kings, and Salic replaced Valancius, but did not make a second round pick. Although the Nuggets' salary for Saric with an annual salary of $5.43 million was increased by $4.97 million in the Nuggets' salary bill, considering that Saric only played 16 games last season and could not make the rotation at all, Valancius played 81 games and averaged 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2 assists per game. His arrival can increase the depth of the Nuggets' inside line and improve their size and combat effectiveness. This deal is obviously worth it.
The center market this year is extremely crazy. It is normal for substitute centers to get full middle-class annual salary. Referring to Looney and Capela, the third center's annual salary starts at $7 million and $8 million. After introducing Valanciunas, the Nuggets had Jokic, Valanciunas and Holmes in the No. 5 position (reimbursed for injury last season), and finally caught up in the arms race at this position.
Nuggets signed Hardaway Jr. with a minimum salary of one year. The 33-year-old veteran averaged 11 points per game with a three-point shooting percentage of 36.8%. Although Hardaway's three-point shooting experience in the playoffs is average, he may be able to improve his efficiency by being around Jokic.
In the past two years, finding a substitute for Jokic + improving the depth of the lineup has been Booth's main task, and his trading has disappointed everyone. Booth not only has poor vision for signing players, but also has generous support, and has given the Nuggets the following options for the second year, which has led to the Nuggets' subsequent operations being very passive. This year, Tengze and Wallace not only completed reinforcement, but also retained flexibility. Brown and Hardaway Jr. both have one-year short contracts, and Valanciunas's contract for the 2026-27 season is non-guaranteed.
Nuggets' operations may not be over yet. One possibility is that the Nuggets continue to operate, dealing with Najib's contract worth $23.12 million for the remaining three years, and then continuing to use the middle class special case, biennial special case, and trading special case (the $16.76 million trading special case was created in the Porter transaction) to strengthen it. As for how big the reinforcement work can be, it depends on how courageous Kroenke is to pay the duplicate luxury tax.
The situation of the championship competition in the new season is open, and the Thunder is still popular. The Nuggets, who are not afraid of the Thunder, will return to the championship competition camp. This result should satisfy Jokic. Next, Jokic may sign a three-year, $212.2 million super maximum salary renewal contract, completely binding his future with the Nuggets.