Nuggets begin work of rebuilding their roster around Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, as a Star Set to Sign Four-Year, $209 Million Extension With Nuggets
Jamal Murray Set to Sign Four-Year Extension With Nuggets
- The Denver Nuggets are planning a max extension with Jamal Murray for 4 years, $209M.
- Keeping Murray and Nikola Jokić under contract through 2028.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is to become a free agent, potentially opening minutes for a new role player.
The Denver Nuggets are looking to keep their core together for the long haul.
On Thursday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Denver was “working toward” a max extension with star guard Jamal Murray that would be for four years and $209 million.
The move would mean that both Murray and superstar center Nikola Jokić would be under contract with the team through the 2028 NBA season, keeping the star duo that led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023 in Denver.
While Murray now appears locked in with the Nuggets, the team will still likely be facing some changes in the coming offseason. Just after Charania reported on Murray’s potential extension, he also wrote that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who averaged 31.6 minutes per game and 10.1 points per game for the Nuggets through the regular season, was set to decline his player option and become a free agent.
The news that Caldwell-Pope is declining his player option does not necessarily mean he’s definitely leaving Denver, but it does mean that the Nuggets will face pressure to match whatever offers he’s able to get while testing the waters of free agency.
Should he ultimately leave the Nuggets, it would open up some minutes for Denver to make a move for a new role player of their own.
Extending Murray Means the Nuggets Are Committing to Taking On the West
The Western Conference is stacked with talent and only getting better
It’s no surprise that Murray is getting a max deal with Denver, as he was very clearly the second-most important player on a team that won an NBA title. What the deal means is that the Nuggets believe he’s good enough to do it again.
If the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement is telling us anything, it’s that the teams that win titles are those that win on the margins of their rosters.
Top-end talent remains key. You can’t win without the elite-level players. But seemingly gone are the days of teams winning championships with top-heavy rosters. Because of the infusion of overall talent in this era, the teams with fleshed-out support surrounding their core players are the ones finding the ultimate success.
What do we mean here? The Boston Celtics were a terrific team with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at the core. They became great and borderline unbeatable when they traded for Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis. The Denver Nuggets have always been a terrific team with Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray. When they added Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, that quality depth propelled them to the 2023 NBA title.
As we have cleared the two days of relative chaos that was the NBA Draft and hurtle toward the start of the league’s free-agency window on Sunday afternoon, Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth and his front office are tasked with recreating the magic on the margins that put Denver a level above the rest of the league. They lost Brown and Green, and thus the Nuggets lost what helped separate them. We saw it show up with a second-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2024.
Now, with Jokić in the middle of his prime, and Murray gaining momentum toward signing a mega contract extension, how can Booth and the Nuggets get the roster back to where it needs to be?
It’s both Denver’s biggest question and the biggest challenge the Nuggets are going to face.
Denver is fighting to stay out of the NBA’s second apron, which would trigger crippling financial restrictions, such as the inability to aggregate salaries in a trade, or the ability to include cash in a trade. But doing so likely means allowing starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to leave as an unrestricted free agent.
As first reported by The Athletic on Thursday, Caldwell-Pope is declining his player option to test the market. where he has significant interest. This puts the Nuggets in a precarious spot. Denver, as Booth told reporters on Wednesday night after the first round of the draft, remains significantly interested in keeping Caldwell-Pope and will do what it can to keep him on the roster.
Doing so will be difficult, even as the Nuggets maintain the ability to exceed any offer, thanks to holding Caldwell-Pope’s Bird rights. If KCP doesn’t return, this would mark the second consecutive offseason that Denver’s suffered a major loss to its rotation. Brown’s departure has been talked about consistently. Caldwell-Pope walking in free agency may be even more difficult to navigate.
As Jokić progresses in his prime — he will be 30 next February — Denver’s got to lessen the wear and tear during the regular season. That’s where the Nuggets hope Holmes comes in. If he can spell Jokić solidly for even 12-14 minutes a night, the Nuggets will be a better team come playoff time because Jokić will be a fresher player. Booth has been aware of this, and he and Denver’s front office hope Holmes solves what has become a relatively silent but evident issue.
With free agency on the way, the Nuggets are examining everything from potential trades to scouring the market for cheap but solid reinforcements at the back end of the rotation. For the Nuggets, those are the margins, and those are the battles that Booth and his staff will have to win. Denver knows it’s in the championship mix and capable of winning a title next season.
But how do the Nuggets get back to being a level above the rest of the league?
The rest of the offseason should provide answers, one way or the other.
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