Roster turnover is inevitable in the NBA, and really in all professional sports, but creating longevity has also proven to be a major factor for most championship teams. The Nuggets were able to build out an excellent starting lineup and they’ve been able to keep that crew together for the last few seasons, something that has led to their overall sustained success.
But as teams get better and experience more success, the players become more desirable as commodities around the league. It’s a natural progression and frankly, a good problem to have. But it’s part of the reason why it’s hard to keep teams together; if a team plays well, other teams will want their players.
That’s finally starting to hit the Nuggets and in many ways, it was probably always only just a matter of time until someone came for them. Well, it seems like that time has finally come and it’s becoming time to pay the piper. The Nuggets knew that it was going to get tougher and tougher to keep the core of their championship team together and the first major hurdle will come this offseason.
NBA contenders interested in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has a player option for $15 million and change which he will almost certainly decline and become an unrestricted free agent. The Nuggets would love to keep KCP in Denver, but once he hits the open market that will be a difficult task. He’s proven himself to be a winning role player for multiple teams, and any contender with money to spend would be thrilled to add Caldwell-Pope to their lineup.
This was obvious to speculate, but Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports has confirmed that it’s more than just a concern, as he named the Philadelphia 76ers as a specific team that would have interest in going after KCP in free agency.
The conference finals feature four teams loaded with All-Stars, and the Sixers, to no surprise, are chasing a premier two-way wing this summer, league sources told @YahooSports. Details on Paul George, OG Anunoby, the Clippers and more context here: https://t.co/xy9pNZJD3l
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) May 23, 2024
The Sixers are the rare case of a team that has championship aspirations with two stars locked in but also has cap space and heaps of money to spend. Fischer reports that the Sixers will go star hunting and do everything they can to lure players like Paul Geroge to come to Philadelphia.
But if the teams strike out on stars, they will pivot to overpaying for elite role players. KCP would fit the ball as he’d be a great addition for the 76ers. They could afford to offer him a huge one or two-year contract that would give Kentavious a nice raise and allow him to hit the open market again in a couple of years, likely still in his prime.
This isn’t what Nuggets fans want to hear, but it’s a harsh reality facing contending teams in the NBA. It’s something the team is going to have to deal with, and this won’t be the last instance of a team trying to poach their talent.
