In the wake of the Nuggets‘ championship-clinching victory on Monday, Bruce Brown‘s teammates were effusive in their praise of the versatile guard, predicting a significant payday for the 26-year-old this summer in free agency. However, Brown told Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscription required) that he won’t necessarily accept the biggest offer he gets on the open market.
“I want to stay,” Brown said. “… It’s a perfect fit. And money is not everything. The money will come. So I’m not worried about that right now.”
Brown, who signed a two-year contract with the Nuggets last offseason, holds a $6.8MM player option for 2023/24. If he turns down that option, Denver would only hold his Non-Bird rights and would be limited to offering him a starting salary of $7.8MM — that figure represents a 20% raise off his current $6.5MM salary.
The Nuggets could theoretically use the mid-level exception to offer up to $12.2MM, but they’re extremely unlikely to have the full MLE available since their team salary projects to be over the luxury tax line. ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) expects rival suitors to be willing to offer at least the MLE amount of $12.2MM, and possibly more than that. Brown’s teammates are also forecasting a substantial raise based on his play in the regular season and postseason.
“Bruce has been huge for us all playoffs,” Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said after Monday’s win. “We’re excited for him because he’s going to get paid. He’s going to get paid. … We just kept telling him be aggressive, even though his first half didn’t go amazing making shots-wise. He hit that big bucket down the stretch, made those two free throws. He was amazing for us all playoffs. It wasn’t just tonight.”
In 80 regular season appearances for the Nuggets, Brown averaged a career-best 11.5 points per night on .483/.358/.758 shooting. He also contributed 4.1 RPG and 3.4 APG while handling a variety of defensive assignments. In the playoffs, he bumped his scoring average to 12.0 PPG while shooting 51.1% from the floor. On Monday, the five-year veteran made a key basket late in the game’s closing minutes to give Denver the lead, then knocked down two free throws with 14 seconds left to clinch the victory.
One option for Brown would be to decline his player option, sign another one-plus-one deal with a first-year salary of $7.8MM, then opt out again in 2024 in order to sign a more lucrative, longer-term deal with the Nuggets. Bobby Portis took this route in Milwaukee after winning a title with the Bucks, accepting a below-market deal in 2021 and then inking a four-year, $48.6MM contract in 2022 once the team had his Early Bird rights.
We’ll see if Brown wants to take a similar path once he’s not still basking in the fresh glow of a title. But on Monday, at least, he sounded genuinely enthusiastic about remaining in Denver.
“That’s insane,” he said of the Nuggets’ 16-4 playoff record, per Singer. “That doesn’t happen. … Why not run it back?”
Depending on his goals ! If it’s to get paid for the first the nuggets can’t compete with teams with cap space ! If it’s to make some money but sign with a contender nuggets. Can pay more then the other contenders
I think he should do what portis did. I cant fault a guy for want more money when he can get it but he is a great fit for this team, they can easily run it back with most of this group and after this year he can still secure a payday assuming he keeps up his production. Its a risk and the safer thing would be to take the money but as Brown’s quoted ” Money is not everything”.
I agree. I hope he decides to stay, he was huge for the Nuggets!
Better take the payday while you can. You already won a title.
Except, you know what’s better than winning one title? Winning more than one.
He should take the best contract or demand a no trade clause.
Denver will trade him without hesitation if they think it will benefit them.
Totally agree. He’s def off a winner’s high … and once that settles, I’m sure he’ll realize he should probably try to maximize his earnings.
As long as DEN can come within reason, than sure a little discount won’t hurt but with that new CBA coming out, his best option would def be to maximize now.
This is what they all say in the Euphoria of the moment. Give it a few weeks and the dollar signs will magnify in the heart. But no problem there he deserves it. Played well, was a valuable piece and he’ll succeed elsewhere as well.
Nuggets will make him a good offer to stay. Winning a championship is worth a lot of money to a player.
Bruce will take the Portis route opt out and get a pay raise and then next offseason have a hand shake agreement like Portis and his agent did to get the bigger payday.
In the span of a year Bruce Brown has 1) had a kid with Lana Rhoades 2) Won an NBA Championship 3) About to get a multi-year bag.
Dude can’t stop winning.
Having a kid with Lana Rhoades probably isn’t winning. But the rest is.
Each year of Bruce Brown’s career has been better than the last. Just constant hustle and improvement. He’ll probably finish his career as one of the best roleplayers ever imo.
A better route than the Portis route is taking the GPII way back. Take the money, in Browns case a 3/30 or 3/36, then if things don’t go right have Denver trade back for you later during the year.
Now you get paid market value and eventually get back where you want home to be.
Was going to comment this exactly. Go elsewhere, nuggets work out a trade. The issue may be matching salaries. Haven’t looked at their cap situation tbh.
No
A- They don’t have the draft capital
B- they don’t have the match salary for that to bring back
C- just no, that’stoo much 2k for even 2kers
It’s not a bad move to come back, even from an economic perspective. Assuming his highest offers are the MLE (and I don’t see how he could command more), he’s giving up about 4 mm in the first year. But, in exchange, he can insist on a 1+1 with a player option, similar to his current contract. That’s usually only available to players who sign below market deals. Next year, DEN would have EBRs on him.
Wow Bruce coming back would be massive
Don’t wait for the Brinks truck Bruce, get paid NOW
Assuming there’s a strong handshake trust in the 2 parties they can extend this relationship without hurting Browns pockets long term. It’s become more popular w the 1+1 s and nobody ( the team ) has reneged yet on one but there’s always a first – Lakers almost pulled this off with Monk last season but Monk Imo was super super smart not inking this … I wouldn’t trust this off-season ( especially w Lal ) of them honoring of that handshake ….
Brown lot different story ofc I just wanted to illustrate an example where it potentially gets dicey that next year for player
* I don’t see Brown being that first but it will happen someday and that’s gonna cause sone holy hell
Happiness >>> $$$
Brown should do whatever he wants to do. He’s an adult and understands the pros and cons of his options. Whatever he decides to do, I hope it works out well for him and that he doesn’t have any regrets down the line.
Bruce is right about what he said. Money is not everything and the money will come.
The Nuggets already found their formula for success by surrounding Jokic and Murray with solid role players (Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, KCP, MPJ) and using size their advantage. The Nuggets just proved to the NBA that height is might and small ball is not always the way to win.
Bruce is right about what he said. Money is not everything and the money will come.
The Nuggets already found their formula for success by surrounding Jokic and Murray with solid role players (Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, KCP, MPJ) and using size to their advantage. The Nuggets just proved to the NBA that height is might and small ball is not always the way to win.
Kid’s going to be 27 this summer. Get the money now don’t wait.