DENVER — Torrey Craig is averaging 22.6 minutes per game in February and has been an integral piece to Nuggets coach Michael Malone’s rotation over the past few months. He logged 27 minutes in the Nugget’s win over the Hornets last week, 28 in Denver’s loss to Houston on Friday and 16 against the Suns on Saturday. But under his two-way contract, Craig is only allowed to spend 45 days with the team this season.
The 26-year-old has been with the Nuggets since Dec. 15 and was also in Denver for a few days in late-November. He’s played in a total of 26 games and the Nuggets — along with other teams around the league that are relying on two-way players for significant minutes — have had to get creative when it comes to practice time and travel to limit Craig from reaching the 45-day maximum.
Once the G League season ends in late-March, Craig and Denver’s other two-way player Monte Morris can be with the Nuggets on a full-time basis but under their contracts won’t be eligible for the Nuggets’ playoff roster.
President of basketball operations Tim Connelly spoke about how Denver will proceed with Craig over the remainder of the regular season at Monday’s post-trade deadline debrief and didn’t rule out eventually opening a roster spot so the Nuggets could sign Craig to a regular NBA deal.
Here’s a transcript of Connelly’s comments regarding Craig and if Denver will explore the buyout market in the coming weeks.
How will the team manage Craig’s two-way contract moving forward?
“We’re all kind of flying blind. It’s a new rule both at the league level and the team level. It is what it is. We have to be creative in how we use those days. He’s given us a nice bump. The other night I thought certainly it was not a pretty game but I thought Monte’s play was very strong. We’ve had luck with both our two-way guys. As the league gets more accustomed to it and as we get more accustomed to it, just have to be creative in how we use those guys.”
Will the Nuggets explore clearing a roster spot to sign Craig for the remainder of the season?
“We’ll look at everything, whatever makes the most sense. Certainly, it’s kind of a unique rule. It’s one that I don’t quite frankly understand. I get it but I don’t know who wins, the player or the team. But it is what it is. That’s the reality we’re facing and we’ll figure it out.”
Will the Nuggets explore the buyout market?
“Who knows. I don’t want to have a strong no, but there’s nobody we have circled. We like our roster. We like the kind of complexion of our team from young to I hate to say middle-aged when they’re 26, 27, 28 but middle-aged to old, mid-30’s. We like how there are different voices and different experiences in our locker room and we think if we have to finish the season out, we’re pretty excited about the 16, 17 guys we have in there.”
Malone has said that it would be “ideal” to sign Craig to a regular NBA deal so the team doesn’t have to worry about his 45-day limit going forward. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror and the Nuggets failing to open a roster spot to accommodate Craig, that path becomes challenging. Denver would have to waive or agree to a buyout with a player currently on its 15-man roster in order to create the necessary room to sign Craig.
“I’m just taking it one game at a time,” Malone said. “I can’t worry about saving his days until the end of March. We need to get through today. It’s a fine line and it presents a pretty interesting problem to have because he is a valuable player.”
