Denver Nuggets

A brutal-but-brilliant apron summer: matched Oklahoma City's 2yr/$11.75M offer sheet on Spencer Jones, converted Peyton Watson into an unprotected 2031 first plus a 2032 second via the five-team sign-and-trade — then spent the opened roster spot on the offseason's best value signing, DeMar DeRozan at the veteran minimum after Jokic, Murray and Gordon personally recruited him. Waived and stretched Valanciunas ($2M guarantee), re-signed Tyus Jones, added fliers in Bagley, Diallo and Lonnie Walker IV (Exhibit 9), and traded down from No. 26 to sign Trevon Brazile (4yr/$9.26M) on a rookie-minimum cap hit. Fourteen guaranteed deals total $218.1M in salary ($219.2M on the tax books), and once unlikely bonuses are counted Denver sits $3.2M over the second apron with no hard cap, a frozen $10.2M Watson TPE, no taxpayer MLE and a projected repeater tax bill north of $75M. Six-time All-Star shot creation next to a prime Jokic at $2.45M keeps the window open — but Jokic's unsigned extension looms over everything. Cam Whitmore, waived by Cleveland in August, fills Denver's third two-way slot — a zero-cap-hit flier on a 22-year-old former first-rounder.

2026-27 figures verified against Spotrac and HoopsRumors reporting. View full cap sheet on the Salary Cap page.