Darrell Arthur exercises player option

Darrell Arthur plans to be a Denver Nugget for a sixth straight year. On Friday, the veteran forward exercised his one-year player option worth $7.4 million, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical.

BSN Denver has since confirmed the report.

Arthur’s decision to opt in was likely an easy one. He averaged 2.8 points and appeared in 19 games for the Nuggets last season. It’s doubtful he could have earned that much money on the open market. The 30-year-old has been reduced to an end-of-bench guy in Denver the last two season due to the glut of big men already on its roster and nagging knee issues. Last summer, Arthur underwent Regenokine treatment in Germany on his left knee to help reduce inflammation.

Arthur has been with the Nuggets since the 2013-14 season. He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Grit-N-Grind Memphis Grizzlies teams. Arthur doesn’t make frequent appearances on the floor anymore, but he’s perhaps the most respected voice in the Nuggets’ locker room.

“He’s pretty much done everything that we want to do,” Will Barton said about his teammate in January. “It’s different hearing it from a guy like that. When you see his sacrifice for the betterment of the team every day, it’s easy for you to listen to him.”

It’s difficult to imagine Arthur’s role changing in the 2018-19 season. The Nuggets once again have a log jam in the front court. Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap will earn most of the minutes at center and power forward. Backup center Mason Plumlee is back for the second season of the three-year, $41 million deal he signed last summer. First-round pick Tyler Lydon should be fully recovered from knee surgery. Even if the Nuggets trade Kenneth Faried, which they’re reportedly interested in, there still might not be minutes for Arthur.

BSN Denver’s Harrison Wind contributed to this report.