Nuggets' two-way players Torrey Craig, Monte Morris will likely start season in G-League

DENVER — Denver Nuggets’ coach Michael Malone said Sunday that two-way players Torrey Craig and Monte Morris will likely start the regular season in the G-League.

“I think they’ll start in the G-League,” Malone said. The Nuggets’ coach then referred all further questions on the G-League and Denver’s two-way contracts to president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and general manager Arturas Karnisovas.

Craig, who Denver signed as a free agent to their Summer League roster earlier this offseason, impressed Nuggets’ brass while in Las Vegas and was signed to a two-way contract shortly thereafter. The 26-year-old, who’s a quality defender in a three-and-D mold, played four years at the University of South Carolina Upstate and is coming off an MVP season in the New Zealand NBL.

“He isn’t a two-way (contract) player, that’s what he is right now, but make no mistake, he is an NBA player,” Malone said of Craig.

“He shoots the three-ball very well, he moves very well without the ball which is a great asset when you are playing with the bigs that we have,” Malone continued. “Torrey has been a stud. I told him ‘don’t get a fat head.’ Keep on working and keep being the consistent player you’ve been for the past three months for us. I am a huge Torrey Craig fan.”

Craig’s best game of the preseason came in Denver’s 122-104 win over the Lakers where he scored three points and recorded two steals in eight minutes.

Morris, who Denver selected 51st overall in this summer’s draft, was a four-year player at Iowa State and like Craig, has played sparingly this preseason. The 22-year-old scored five points in five minutes last week against the Spurs.

Without a G-League team, last season Denver assigned Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez to the Sioux Falls Skyforce using the flex assignment rule. The Nuggets will likely use Sioux Falls to some capacity again this season.

Two-way contracts are new to the NBA this season after the league added them into the Collective Bargaining Agreement that came into effect this summer. Players signed to two-way contracts can spend up to 45 days with their NBA team and can earn a maximum of roughly $275,000. During their time in the NBA, two-way players earn 1/170 of the minimum rookie contract per day and if a player does not spend any time with their NBA club, they’ll earn $75,000.

The 45-day clock starts ticking on the first day of G-League training camp and ends on the last day of the G-League season. Last year, the G-League regular season ended on April 1 while the NBA season lasted through April 12. In that scenario, those final 11 days of the NBA season would not count towards a two-way players’ 45-day maximum.

A two-way player cannot be a part of an NBA team’s playoff roster. If a team wants one of their two-way players on their playoff roster, they can convert their two-way contract to a regular NBA deal. Of course, that team would need to have an open roster spot for that player.

Rookie Tyler Lydon, who Denver selected 24th overall in the 2017 draft, could spend some time in the G-League this season as well. Since Lydon is signed to a typical rookie contract, there’s not a maximum amount of days that he can spend with the Nuggets.