JUNE 19: Green has officially picked up his player option for 2022/23, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
JUNE 17: Nuggets forward Jeff Green is expected to exercise his $4.5MM player option for next season, a league source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post.
The deadline for Green to pick up the option is June 20, Singer notes.
In 75 regular season games with Denver, including 63 starts (24.7 MPG), Green averaged 10.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG on .524/.315/.833 shooting. He struggled in the team’s first-round loss to Golden State, averaging 3.8 PPG and 3.6 RPG on .353/.375/.800 shooting in five games (22.6 MPG), with his shot attempts cut in half.
However, he has had postseason success in the past, including previous stops with Boston, Houston and Cleveland, reaching the NBA Finals with the Cavs in 2017/18.
Green, who turns 36 in August, is a well-traveled veteran (Denver is his 11th team) and clearly enjoyed his first season with the Nuggets, since he’s picking up his option. He’s still quite athletic despite his advancing age, and is a heady cutter who excels in the open court.
After Green exercises the option, he and fellow forwards Aaron Gordon and Zeke Nnaji will all be under contract for 2022/23. Michael Porter Jr. (back surgery) is expected to return to action as well, and he’s signed to a long-term, maximum-salary deal.
As Singer writes, with a pretty set forward rotation, the Nuggets are expected to focus on improving the team’s perimeter depth in the 2022 draft. Denver controls the Nos. 21 and 30 picks after agreeing to trade JaMychal Green to the Thunder. Singer says “it’s likely” that GM Calvin Booth knew of Jeff Green’s intention to exercise the option prior to the trade.
Nuggets are reportedly interested in packaging their picks in order to move up to the middle of the first round.
In case you missed it, Green was ranked No. 45 on our list of top 50 free agents for 2022, and if you enter our free agent prediction contest, you’ll get a freebie as long as you pick the Nuggets as Green’s destination.
Big fan of Jeff Green the person but JaMichael Green was the much more effective player. Granted, Jeff was forced into the starting five as a bad fit alongside AG but him taking JMike’s role off the bench for next season will leave a hole defensively. JMike’s shooting disappeared last season but he played hard and was always good for a block or two in limited minutes. The questions for Denver continue.
Fascinating player arc
– Hugely hyped pre -draft
– Let down first couple years
– Reliable guy mid career but upside zapped
– Disappears a tad
– Re-appears and becomes that savvy vet everyone wants/needs
– Time to take out behind the barn (? Soon?)
He’ll have a lot of stories to tell tho at future Thanksgiving dinners
He has lasted long due to limited effort.
Gosh how clever
Yes, he’s lasted in the league 15 years because he doesn’t try hard. Good call
The 6-9 floater has played only one year for a team eight times. Teams do without him. Maybe Denver has him doing inside work, so he’s the big that can run, good for a second year. Jym.Green gets twice the rebounds & steals & has the better PER, but costs more, so he got moved.
Ironically, the open heart surgery that was supposed to end his career, seemed to reset it for the better. His best seasons, with BOS, followed it. Of course, OKC was a tanking machine (imagine that) during his tenure there, so it’s hard to say the discipline he found with BOS wasn’t there the entire time.
I’ll never forget the Game of Thrones where LeBron James states at the end of a 2-minute rant that,
“You can do such-and-such and this and that.., or stay here and play with.., Jeff Green.”
Then awkward silence. Hilarious.