While Nuggets faced some criticism for the defeat Peyton Watson in free agency this summer, John Hollinger of The Athletic believes Denver’s front office did a good job with the hand it was dealt.
Past roster missteps have essentially made it impossible for the Nuggets to re-sign Watson without paying a huge luxury tax, but Hollinger likes the fact that the club got the Cavaliers’ 2031 first-round pick in a sign-and-trade deal, sending the restricted free-agent wing to Cleveland. As Hollinger points out, this would allow Denver to trade a valuable 2031 “most favorable” pick at some point, while the team previously had no option to trade its own 31st-rounder due to Stephen’s rule.
In the same article, Hollinger details a few more moves he didn’t like this offseason, including Pistons‘ list settings and Rockets‘ additions to the rear area.
We’ve got more odds and ends from around the world of basketball:
- Which five NBA teams have the worst salary cap situation in 2026-27 and beyond? Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus shares his thoughts on this topic by posting Art Nuggets at the top of his list and then magic, Clippers, Lakersand Cavaliers. Pincus’ rankings take into account each team’s draft capital, as the lack of draft picks results in fewer opportunities to shed unwanted contracts.
- This was announced by the General Director of the Euroleague, Chus Buena Mike Varkunow of The Athletic that as of late last week, the EuroLeague had yet to receive a formal proposal from the NBA for a potential collaboration or merger. Bueno and the owners of the Euroleague team would welcome a firm offer and “carefully evaluate it,” he told Varkunov. “(EuroLeague and NBA officials) have publicly stated that we believe that cooperation is the best way to develop basketball in Europe.” buena said “And I think there is a general understanding that the European basketball ecosystem can create more value by working together rather than fragmenting the market.”
- Joey Bass and Jesse Bass have an exclusive window of negotiations until the end of November to buy French team ASVEL from the former NBA star Tony Parkeraccording to Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. Reporting in August noted that the Busa brothers are negotiating to invest in ASVEL, which has faced financial difficulties this year.
- U interesting story for The Houston ChronicleVarun Shankar elaborates on how the G League is a developmental league for NBA executives, not just players, highlighting several young executives who have been given the opportunity to step into a general manager position at the NBAGL level.