September 13, 2008 10:38 PM

Nuggets in line to have $77 million payroll

By Chris Tomasson
Rocky Mountain News

After a summer of slashing, the numbers are all but in.
The Nuggets set out during the offseason to reduce their payroll significantly, with how the team might perform on the court an apparent secondary concern. After staring at perhaps having a payroll for this season in excess of $86 million, the Nuggets instead are looking at a payroll of $77.48 million, which would be $6.33 million over the NBA's luxury-tax threshold of $71.15.
The final pieces came when it was revealed guard J.R. Smith's salary-cap number for this season will be $4.985 million and when second-round pick Sonny Weems and his agent, Roger Montgomery, said Weems is on the verge of signing for the minimum of $442,114.
Weems' signing will give the Nuggets 13 players, the minimum they can carry. Unless there are injuries, don't expect them to start the season with any more. The Nuggets are still over the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax, so they would have to pay double for any other players signed.
The Nuggets' primary summer move to shed salary was shipping center Marcus Camby, who has a cap number of $10 million, to the Clippers for nothing more than the right to swap second-round picks in 2010 (the Nuggets also got a $10 million trade exception but don't expect that to be used until next July, if at all). They also appeared unwilling to offer free-agent forward Eduardo Najera anything more than a minimum salary, and he bolted to New Jersey for a four-year, $13 million deal.
The Nuggets' only apparent desire during the offseason to spend significant dollars came in the re-signing of Smith, a restricted free agent. He got a three-year deal worth about $16.5 million, with bonuses involved that could slightly alter that number.
Barring another major move to clear cap room, the Nuggets are in line to pay the luxury tax for a third straight season, and should have the NBA's sixth-highest payroll after New York, Dallas, Cleveland, the Lakers and Boston. But the amount of tax they pay should be far less than last season's $13.57 million. And, before trading Camby, the Nuggets were in jeopardy of having a tax bill in excess of $15 million.
As for the future, it doesn't appear the Nuggets will be tax payers in 2009-10. Allen Iverson's $20.84 million contract comes off the books by next summer.
Iverson could be traded by midseason, dispatched in a sign-and-trade next summer or bolt as a free agent with the Nuggets getting nothing in return. If Iverson were to return to Denver, it obviously would be for a salary that is far less.
The Nuggets currently have six players with guaranteed contracts for 2009-10 totaling about $54.6 million (the figure drops to 51.9 million if the Nuggets buy out Chucky Atkins for $760,000 rather than pay him his full possible salary of $3.48 million for 2009-10). But that figure would increase by the Oct. 31 deadline if the Nuggets were to sign forward Linas Kleiza to a contract extension starting in 2009-10 or pick up Renaldo Balkman's $2.11 million option for 2009-10.
Barring the unforeseen, don't expect the Nuggets to be able to get under the salary cap next season. But at least they aren't in line to be tax payers.
As for this season, here's a look at the 12 players under contract and the 13th expected soon to sign:

Allen Iverson $20.84 million
Carmelo Anthony $14.41 million
Kenyon Martin $14.18 million ($14.43 salary-cap number due to prorated $250,000 bonus)
Nene $9.68 million
J.R. Smith $4.985 million
Steven Hunter $3.86 million
Chucky Atkins $3.24 million
Linas Kleiza $1.82 million
Renaldo Balkman $1.37 million
Anthony Carter $1.26 million (counts $797,581 against the cap)
Chris Andersen $998,398 (counts $797,581 against the cap)
Dahntay Jones $926,678 (counts $797,581 against the cap)
Sonny Weems $442,114 (amount soon expected to sign for)

TOTAL EXPECTED CAP FIGURE ENTERING 2008-09: $77.48 MILLION

DATE PASSES: With the Nuggets in a cost-cutting mode, the Sept. 10 expiration date passed without the Nuggets using a $681,400 trade exception acquired the previous year when the Nuggets traded Reggie Evans and Ricky Sanchez to Philadelphia for Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones.

Posted by Chris Tomasson at 10:38 PM | Comments (1)