The Denver Nuggets are entering uncharted territory by moving across the NBA's second apron penalty threshold and are facing a massive luxury tax bill after matching the two-year, $12 million offer sheet for Spencer Jones. The Nuggets could get back under the threshold by making the obvious salary dump of Zeke Nnaji, who is on the books for $7.4 million this season. But there probably won't be many takers for an overpaid six-year veteran who has never cracked the rotation, severely complicating the salary-dump process.
Nnaji is on a terrible contract that even includes a player option year next season for the same $7.4 million that you absolutely know he will take. So that means the Nuggets are going to have extra issues trading out Nnaji. If they're even able to trade him.
Thankfully, the Nuggets added two future second-round picks by trading down in the NBA Draft, but they'll almost surely have to add those, or more, to a Nnaji dump if they're even lucky enough to entice anyone with those picks.
The Nuggets should consider the Nnaji contract an expensive lesson
At this stage of the game, fans shouldn't be pointing the finger at the Spencer Jones retention in free agency for $6 million per year as the reason the Nuggets' tax bill is ballooning today. Jones is an incredible value when compared to Nnaji. Nnaji got passed over for Jones in the rotation early in the season last year and never gave up his spot.
In fact, the script should be flipped. It should be Nnaji who is viewed as the tax problem for the Nuggets. An expensive mistake that should have never happened in the first place. But former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth gave Nnaji a four-year, $32 million extension on the basis of Nnaji getting more playing time. I guess that message never got to former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.
Nnaji never received the playing time and became an overpaid paperweight to the chairs on the end of the bench. And he's showing no signs of breaking that mold. It's an expensive lesson that the Nuggets need to learn from.
The Nuggets may just have to eat the "Nnaji" tax this year
If the Nuggets aren't able to find any takers for Nnaji and the attached draft picks that it will likely take to trade him, they should just consider it a Nnaji-and-Booth tax. Yes, the hefty tens of millions of dollars in extra taxes hurt, but the ownership group can afford the expensive lesson.
The Nuggets would at least have a better chance of trading Nnaji next year, when he has a more favorable expiring contract. That may be what it takes to finally let go of such a bad contract.
Add us as a preferred source on Google