Nuggets make expected minor salary move to clear space

The Denver Nuggets made a roster decision Thursday that will impact their team-building for the next three years.

As expected, the front office is choosing to stretch the $2 million salary owed to Jonas Valanciunas for the 2026-27 season, over the next three years. Meaning Denver will carry a dead cap hit of $667,000 through the 2028-29 season. This news comes from HoopsHype.

This leaves the Nuggets about $3 million over the second apron, including incentives, with 14 roster spots filled as of now, per Jake Coyne. Denver could fill out a 15th spot by adding Lonnie Walker to the full-time roster or keep the slot empty to save on their tax bill — as they did for much of last season while squeezed against the second apron. Eventually they added Tyus Jones as a 15th man but they didn’t even fill out that spot when both Valanciunas and Nikola Jokic were hurt at the same time last year — leaving them without a center for a month.

Now that Valanciunas’ contract has been stretched, we have a clearer picture of the impact of the Michael Porter Jr. trade since the Nuggets’ trade of the sharpshooting forward was pitched on the flexibility of shedding his salary in exchange for Cameron Johnson — allowing the Nuggets to trade for the Lithuanian center. So for a future unprotected first and MPJ Denver received Johnson, one year of underutilizing Valanciunas and three years of dead cap hit moving forward.

Worse here for the front office of Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace is the process. The Nuggets handed Valanciunas $2 million of guaranteed money he didn’t previously have, not out of generosity, but so they could push the decision date on cutting him past the start of free agency. And then they used that exact window to cut him anyway, saving roughly $8 million off the tax bill, which would’ve been the full $10 million. The later guarantee date also meant Valanciunas couldn’t become a free agent until after the league’s annual moratorium, boxing him out of the first week of free agency while Denver ran the clock — which is why he likely asked for compensation.

Knowing there was European interest in the big man, they restructured the guarantee date on his deal. The front office also knew this summer would be one focused around a salary crunch — likely resulting in him getting cut. The whole thing was odd both from a process and a result standpoint but stretching the owed money is the smart move here.

Updated Nuggets' salary table now that Valančiūnas has officially been stretched: pic.twitter.com/98yBoCrq20

— Ryan Freemyer (@RFreemyer) August 27, 2026

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