Picking up Paul Millsap's team option as much about the Nuggets’ future as their present

“ATTENTION: This is an audio story, meaning that BSN Denver subscribers can listen to it if they don’t have time to stop and read it in its entirety.  We would love to know what you think about it in the comments. Enjoy!”

It was a concise and to-the-point speech but one that only someone with 13 years of experience and 87 career playoff games under his belt — the most on the Nuggets’ roster by a significant margin — could have made.

Paul Millsap’s pre-playoff state of the union at shootaround prior to Denver’s Game 1 matchup against the Spurs was about embracing the moment and that the Nuggets should take pride in what they’ve done to get to that point. Most of all, Millsap told the youngest roster in the postseason that included three starters and six rotation players who were making their playoff debuts to simply relax and play ball.

The team-wide address didn’t last long, but it set the table for the Nuggets’ successful playoff run that ended in a Game 7 loss to the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference semifinals. It also wasn’t the only significant behind-the-scenes contribution Millsap has made over the last two seasons in Denver. Who can forget the heart to heart he had with Nikola Jokic last year after Millsap returned from a 44-game absence where he drove home the message to the organization’s franchise cornerstone that the Serbian was in fact the Nuggets’ system. Millsap rightfully didn’t want Jokic to take a backseat to anyone, not even a four-time All-Star who was making significantly more money than him at the time.

Moments like those, Millsap’s on-court consistency, and how he fostered a defensive renaissance this past season that saw the Nuggets go from a bottom-10 defense to post the ninth-best defensive rating in the league last year, were all reasons why Denver knew it had to keep the power forward around. Denver exercised Millsap’s team option ahead of the start of free agency that will pay the 34-year-old around $30 million next season as the Nuggets ensured that the starting lineup from last season’s 54-win team will all be under contract in 2019-20. ESPN was first to report Denver’s choice to have Millsap play out his contract.

Startled at the Nuggets’ decision to pick up Millsap’s option and not work out a multi-year deal that would keep him in Denver long-term? Don’t be. The market for Millsap around the league was strong, and he had standing offers from other teams, according to league sources. The Nuggets didn’t want to risk losing their defensive traffic cop for nothing without a replacement already on their roster.

A multi-year deal with Millsap also wouldn’t have given Denver much wiggle room in free agency this summer anyway. Even if the Nuggets and Millsap had agreed to a contract that would pay him $10 million next season, Denver still would have created only around $9 million in cap space if the current roster around Millsap stayed intact. That’s not a ton a lot of money in the current NBA economy.

Millsap on an expiring deal helps the Nuggets out long-term too, and while they may not be spending big in free agency this July, Denver may still back up the Brinks truck before the summer is over. Jamal Murray, Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez are all eligible for rookie extensions which can be agreed upon up until the first game of the 2019-20 regular season. If those extensions aren’t worked out, the three players will enter restricted free agency next offseason, meaning Denver would still have the opportunity to match any offer sheet that they sign in July of 2020. But don’t be surprised if the Nuggets and Murray work out a deal over the coming months during what one source described to BSN Denver as “the summer of Jamal.” Shams Charania reported Sunday that the two sides have already exchanged dialogue over a contract extension, and although he didn’t hint at what the parameters of the deal would look like, it appears likely that it will exceed $100 million. Extensions for Beasley and Hernangomez could follow.

That would be some serious green for Murray, but Denver will surely have to pay to keep its young point guard in a Nuggets uniform over the next several seasons. Murray is highly regarded around the league and Denver wants him in the Mile High long-term. The Nuggets have time and time again held onto the 22-year-old, who could land his first All-Star appearance next season, instead of including him as a part of trade packages that would have netted Denver an All-Star.

Running it back has been the Nuggets’ plan all along. Denver is in a position where it can return every key contributor from last season’s 54-win team and the Nuggets are also under the belief that there’s still room to grow internally. Murray, Jokic, Gary Harris, Malik Beasley and Monte Morris are all 24-and-under. Michael Porter Jr. and Jarred Vanderbilt — two members of the Nuggets’ 2018 draft class which also includes Thomas Welsh — are waiting in the wings as well. It was all of those players’ first taste of playoff basketball last season and experience in the postseason is the best teacher. Denver is confident in its current pathway which has worked for the Nuggets before.

“We’ve had the most success when we’ve shown patience and allowed guys to play into bigger roles,” Connelly said after the draft. “We will look to better ourselves in the coming weeks but we’re not the least bit scared of coming back with largely the same group.”

The Nuggets’ year-over-year continuity and overall talent has them primed for a deep playoff run next season. But even with the Warriors’ dynasty seemingly over and the Western Conference as wide open as its been in years, the West will stay wild. The Jazz put themselves into the conference finals discussion over the last month by trading for Mike Conley and signing Bojan Bogdanovic. The Lakers have the best two-man pairing in the league in LeBron James and Anthony Davis and could very well add Kawhi Leonard. The Rockets will be competitive again, as will the Trail Blazers, Spurs and Clippers. The Pelicans with Zion Williamson, Jrue Holiday and now J.J. Redick will be feisty. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are still Stephen Curry and Draymond Green too.

But the Nuggets are betting on their continuity again just as they did a year ago. It helped Denver get off to a 9-1 start last season and ride a top-two seed in the West while rival franchises learned how to play with one another. With all the player movement at the top of the conference, there’s reason to believe that Denver likely returning its entire rotation from a season ago will pay dividends again, and Millsap, who just turned in his most efficient offensive season since 2011, will man the Nuggets’ starting power forward spot for another year.

Beyond that who knows? Millsap will be 35 by the time next season is finished and Denver has Porter and Vanderbilt who it may be able to turn to in the front court along with potential cap space in 2020 even accounting for Murray’s extension that it wouldn’t have with Millsap on a multi-year deal.

Picking up Millsap’s options allows Denver to keep its standing as a top-tier Western Conference force. It also allows the Nuggets more flexibility following what could wind up as an expensive summer after all.