July 10: Hardaway is officially a Nugget, the team announced in a press release.
July 1: The Nuggets have agreed to a one-year contract with Pistons free agent wing Tim Hardaway Jr., ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link). He’s signing for the veteran’s minimum, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post tweets.
Hardaway made 77 starts for vastly-improved Detroit, averaging 11.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28 minutes per game. He shot 40.6 percent from the field and 36.8 percent on 3-point attempts.
Denver has been extremely active in recent days, agreeing to deal Michael Porter Jr. and a first-rounder to the Nets for Cameron Johnson, reaching a one-year deal with another wing, Bruce Brown, and adding big man Jonas Valanciunas in an agreed-upon deal with the Kings.
Hardaway figures to be a second-unit player with Denver, unless he supplants Christian Braun at shooting guard or Johnson at small forward. The 33-year-old Hardaway will be playing for the fifth team in his NBA career. He’s also had stints with Atlanta, New York and Dallas.
According to cap expert Yossi Gozlan, these moves will push the Nuggets right up against the luxury tax (Twitter link).
Losing Hardaway is a blow to the Pistons, who have been forced to adjust their free agent strategy due to gambling allegations against Malik Beasley. Detroit has also lost backup guard Dennis Schroder, who agreed on a three-year deal with the Kings. The Pistons have secured an agreement with free agent Caris LeVert and are looking at a variety of scenarios to fortify their wing positions.
IMO THJ would have been a better choice for the Knicks than Clarkson. Surprised, he left Detroit nice young team on the rise
Third time’s the charm? Nah. Just about anyone would be better than Clarkson but that slot needs to go to a lead ball-handler
Yet QMG remains unsigned as does CBT.
Nuggets look all in for next year. They did improve their team
Still no backup PG??
It’s July 1.
brown will probably be the backup PG
They love Jalen Pickett. Guy can ball a little. No mistakes and a decent shooter.
Jamal or Jokic will be on the floor at all times. Bruce Brown or whoever will be fine at PG next to Jok.
Looking like a clear tier 1 in West
-Okc~Hou~Den
Tier 2 is still beefy and tier 3 might be more dreamers than true contenders at this point but its a promising bunch
I don’t blame the Lakers for treading lightly today, thats one hot fire to jump in
Oh,I can blame the Lakers. I know they have limited ability to make moves, but having the only move so far being what amounts to a swap of DFS for Laravia is depressing. Ayton is their best option for a center now??? He doesn’t seem like he even likes playing basketball anymore, much like Ben Simmons. They’re probably going to have to do a trade that forces them to overpay. Meanwhile, Denver and Houston aren’t playing around.
Gotta pick your spots in this league
Last year LAL fans were in the same panty twist day 2 free agency and wanted to empty the coffers for Jerami Grant …patience lead to Luka
I actually like the value of the Jake contract over the DFS contract and it keeps Lakers flexibility a lot better moving forward. You can’t just go patching up holes forever, sometimes you need a new roof
Even a trade for Claxton Allen or Wiggins doesn’t get this team into tier 1 and if thats the route they really wanna take just float the first 45 games and your expiring’s play up a lot better in late January
I hear you, but they have no center on the roster, and the affordable free agent options aren’t great. Maybe they do trade for someone like Allen or Claxton at the deadline.
I never wanted Grant. Terrible fit. I also don’t see how Wiggins fits either. Based on reports, Miami wants the world for him anyway. It doesn’t make sense.
The Lakers also need to give Luka a reason to stay. He hasn’t signed that extension yet, so they need to be mindful of the moves they make. Maybe they don’t just patch holes in the short term, but it’s probably a good idea if they communicate that to him.
I’m under the assumption Luka is in the loop on everything and has signed off . IF Ayton signs it extends the leash a year
I wouldn’t trade for Wiggins either unless it was just Knecht and expiring’s
Ayton gives them a stopgap to stay away from trading a first for a C, if they get that ink splitting the Mle with him and Jake I don’t see how anybody could complain, thats incredible value satisfying the immediate while keeping the future flexible
If no Ayton, they need to keep their wits about them, if LBJ wants a trade accommodate him (we can only really win future value on an LBJ trade considering where we stand, 2026 be damned )
I DO think they have their eye on the ball here, maybe Walter already has some good people in the building
I agree. Great assessment. If the Lakers do sign Ayton, I hope he can find the game fun again by playing with Luka and LeBron (if he isn’t traded).
@TuneSquad
Did you miss the Ayton signing by the Lakers?
Double double guaranteed.
Edit – sorry, I didn’t realize they reposted this with existing week-old comments
My Grade
Nuggets A+
At this moment, Nuggets STILL have $14.1 million MLE and $16.8 million TPE
Rockets B+
Acquire KD – Great
Finney Smith – Replace Brook – Average
Capela – not much
At this moment, Rockets are above the tax line
Top Tier – playoffs second round
Nuggets
Thunder
Rockets
Clippers
Warriors – incomplete
Lakers – incomplete
Playoffs
West 8th seed > East 1 Seed?
I get that these western teams are improving, but slow your role on the west 8th seed being better than the east 1 seed, Silli.
When healthy
Wolves and Mavs are better teams than Knicks
And ….,,
Maybe, but it’s a new season, Silli. Kyrie is out for the season though. Playoffs at best.
If Kyrie can get healthy. I’d take the Mavs over both LA teams and GS..
Denver needed some scoring punch on the bench, and THJ is a good pickup to fill that need. This overhauled roster looks to be a step above last season.
wow! denver actually got a bench now! great moves so far! need a backup guard now. Simmons would be a nice(cause he’s cheap) choice, since they got some shooters! need some D for playoffs
denver looking nice off the bench. strawther/watson/brown/valanciunas/THJ and also pickett who is solid
Not a fan of THJ. But for vet minimum, hard to say no. Still need a veteran backup PG. They could do worse than Cam Payne. He did a nice job for the NYK last year, and at least I would have preferred to bring him back vs Clarkson.
It’s good when the front office listens to the coach. Jokìc said they needed a bench and they’re putting a decent one together.
Great signing by Denver. Getting Cam Johnson/Bruce Brown/THJ gives them an A+. If they can find a team to take Zeke’s remaining $22M owed and get further under the cap, they can make a few more moves (Chris Paul to run the point off the bench), GPII (defense). That’s a few of the moves I can think off.
Love it when a team with an all-time talent decides to put their chips in. I’ve seen too many owners that don’t want to spend or get creative (Cuban with Dirk) and players are stuck with only 1 ring.
The Nuggets have added depth and defense.
I haven’t seen a team this stacked since the 98 Bulls.
74-8!
Oh yeah ……. Nuggets are all in man.
They know they can beat Thunder. Not messing around lols. Unfortunately the Rockets will be there too. I see Nuggets as top team right now ….
Nuggets starting team …..
Murray, Jokic, Johnson, Gordon, Braun
Bench —
Brown, Watson, Hardaway Jr, Valanciunas, Strawther,
Nnaji, Holmes,
Nuggets can easily go ten deep. That will go a long way against top teams. Especially the Thunder ….
link to hoopshype.com
THJ for the minimum and not your 2nd or 3rd option should be a win. Streaky shooter and could have been a better defender.
Great FA for them.
Cam for MPJ, possibly a slight upgrade? Big saving regardless.
THJ, Brown and Big Val are all great additions for their second unit.
Need a back up point guard cause I doubt Russ is returning. Thunder only just made it past them and now they should be returning stronger. Definitely going to be a good year for the Nuggets
Finally, some real depth for the Joker.
NUGGETS on that top-tier with OKC and the ROCKETS.
Unfortunate for detroit and their fans. The team chemistry that was created last season is likely all gone. They will need to make some moves if they want to compete