2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Jokic sprinted pretty damn fast to have a word with McDaniels

 

Nuggets will beat Minny. Jokic is about to lock in. No ANT+DVV will be a problem. I don't expect Ayo to carry them again.

 

can the wolves win one more game without edwards?

i doubt it

 

I think we need Austin Reaves back. Bench too thin i think Luke Lebron need and Let Luka rest for OKC

Lu Dort is lowkey a very dirty player.

 

they've got one more home game, so maybe they just have an insane roleplayer shooting night or finch comes up with some funky gameplan, but yeah, jokic is definitely going to go into god mode for 1 or 2 of these games.

 

he is dirty.

 

LoL what a piece of NBA analytics

‘Someone stole my underwear’: Jokić’s bizarre night mirrors Denver’s collapse
Denver's Nikola Jokić looks on during a playoff game versus Minnesota


Jason Quick
By Jason Quick
April 26, 2026Updated 8:43 am PDT



MINNEAPOLIS — The smoke had cleared from the latest — and most painful — loss of the season, 112-96 on Saturday, and back in the Denver Nuggets’ locker room, Nikola Jokić emerged from the showers and had a startling revelation.

The most necessary item he needed to get dressed was missing.

“Someone stole my underwear,’’ Jokić announced, part alarmed, part panicked, part irritated.

He looked up, down, to the left, to the right, bewildered, frustrated and with utter, you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me disbelief.

The way the Minnesota Timberwolves defense has been this series — so handsy, so brazen, so up-in-your-business — it wouldn’t be shocking to see either Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert or Julius Randle suddenly appear from around the corner holding Jokić’s briefs. Heck, the Timberwolves have stolen everything else from the Nuggets: the series lead, home-court advantage, momentum and a considerable amount of Denver’s pride

 

Yeah, they could chose to operate over the cap. They have to determine what the best option is for them.

Over the cap means Kennard is limited to 13.7 and Smart is limited to the full non-tax-payer MLE of about 15.1 million. But there is no cap on how much you could pay Lebron and Rui, as long as you stay under the first apron (since you are using the MLE). Although, you don't want to pay them too much anyway. This is the best option if you want to try to keep all 4 players, but don't mind if Smart or Kennard end up walking. This is too high risk imo, since both are highly valuable. Go this route if already agreed to by Smart and Kennard, and sign them first.

Using cap-room means you could pay Kennard and Smart a little more than 13.7 and 15.1, if needed. Lebron and Rui would have to split whatever is left. So, there is an overall limit that needs to be divided between the 4 players, unless you chose to let Rui walk. Lets say, Smart get 16 million, and Kennard gets 15.1 million in this example. You would then have 26.7 million to use on Lebron and Rui. If Lebron gets 20 million, then you only have 3.7 million left. Rui gets squeezed, but you at least secured the two valuable players in Smart and Kennard. Lets say Rui passes on the 3.7 million, you then have the 9.3 million room-exception. You could split that 50/50 between Rui and Hayes, where they get about 4.7 million each. You risk loosing these guys, and you might end up having to pick Hayes. With the under the cap option, you cold go over the 1st apron, unless you do a sign and trade or something like that.

Basically, the cap-room option ensures that you have money for the most valuable players, but it jeopardizes letting Rui walk, unless he wants to take a significant pay cut.

Both options have their pros and cons. I would lean towards the cap room option, unless you get some indication from Smart and Kennard that they will sign for those numbers. If Smart and Kennard agree to this, operating over the cap would be ideal. At this point, I would prefer to just sign our own players with bird-rights, because we are likely not going to have enough money for the free agent market anyway, and the free agent market is weak. Also, we might have a better chance signing and trading Rui for somebody. The best path to upgrade 3 and D might be via trade. Weather that trade is using our existing trade ballast, draft picks, sign and trade, etc.

 

Awful- he’s been one of my favorite non-Lakers since he came into the League.

 

I was going to type the exact same thing. Game one against OKC, have Maxi start and injure Dort before he has the chance to injure one of our guys. I would rather not have it this way, but that’s what should happen when you have an impatent Commish.
It’s that simple. If the League isn’t going to do anything…

 

Raptors 38, Cavs 36. Halftime.

 

oops, you and svtzr are right...i thought kennard's contract was an old one, not from last summer. so yeah, only non-bird there.

 

Yeah, that sucks. Which option would you go with? The over the cap option makes it so we could reasonably resign all of Lebron, Smart, Kennard, Rui, and Hayes. But, it caps Kennard at 13.7 and Smart at the 15.1 MLE. Using cap room raises the ceilings for Smart and Kennard, but puts a cap on Lebron, and makes it really hard to retain Rui. Also, Hayes with part of the room ex is good in terms of using the other part for a free agent during the season, but might not be the most efficient use of that tool. As long as we could keep LeBron, Smart, Hayes, and one of Kennard or Rui, I'm good with either option.

 

i think it comes down to rob's sense of the FA and trade market. if you can swing a trade for a herb jones type using vando/knecht/picks, i think i operate over the cap. i feel like smart's number there is fair, while kennard's is a bit under what he could maybe fetch. i give him a PO and tell him we can use early bird next year to get that number up a bit.

on the other hand, if you think you can get watson by using space, i'm willing to let rui walk and see if lebron/kennard/smart will all take a one-year hit to make it work. it's hard to get your hands on guys with those kinds of tools unless you draft them or trade a zillion firsts.

as we've discussed a lot, i think denver will want to keep watson away from us, so i'm starting to lean over the cap, which is a big surprise to me. did not think i'd be saying that even a couple weeks ago. and maybe that means i'm just being overly affected by the playoffs.

lol, call me if we get past houston and get absolutely blasted by okc due to lack of athleticism, and i'll be right back on the "if you don't bring in some youth and athleticism, you're fired" train.

 

Yeah, I think its more than just recency bias in this case:

• After initially being regarded as washed by many, this season Smart has quietly returned to near DPOY level Smart, and has injected the Lakers with what we have needed for seemingly a long time now
• Vincent was turned into Kennard, and he has positively impacted the Lakers winning since they traded for him
• Lebron has decided to be the 3rd option, and play without the ball
• Rui has a track record of performing in the playoffs. He is stepping up, playing 40+ minutes in the absence of Luka and Reaves. He has also picked up his defense a bit in these playoffs.
• Hayes is Lukas lob buddy, and he is out playing Ayton in these playoffs. He needs to come back.

Yeah, these are all relativky recent devlopments, so it took me a minute to come to the realization that operating over the cap is now a viable option.

 

Yeah I just don’t think there’s as much a market for Smart or Kennard as you seem to think. There just isn’t that much money out there this offseason.

I’m just not seeing who is going to sign Smart to more than the MLE. Chicago or Brooklyn? Neither are playoff teams and we know that Smart wants meaningful basketball. So I’m quite sure he would stay with us over a little more from those two.

If we’re offering Smart the MLE, and I’ve already shown all the teams that will have the MLE are loaded with guards, he’d most likely stay with us over leaving to sign elsewhere.

As for Kennard, I think there won’t be more than the room for him. He is a luxury to have and the teams with the MLE have some big players of their own to try and resign. And there is also about a half a dozen free agents that are better and worth more than the MLE that will have to take the MLE due to no cap space.

I believe we’ll operate over the cap if we get a sense that this team is competitive with OKC, we’ll try to bring everyone back and add another piece via trade. If we are clearly out matched, we let some players go and pivot to new options via cap space.

 

Yeah, I think you are right about that. I would shift the strategy to agreeing with Marcus Smart at the opening of free agency for 4-years/65 million. If we decide to operate over the cap, it counts as the MLE. If we decide to operate under the cap, we consider it 15.1 million in cap room. In any case, we should be able to sign Lebron for 20 million, and Hayes for 5 to 8 million. We might end up having to chose between Kennard and Rui. If Kennard agrees to the 13.7, then we operate over the cap, and then also sign Lebron, Rui, and Hayes with cap room. If Kennard wants some more money, then we consider operating under the cap, and signing Kennard for 15 to 16 million in cap room, Lebron for 20 million, and Hayes with part of the room exception. In the under cap scenario, we likely lose Rui, and in the over cap scenario, there is a chance we lose Kennard if 13.7 isn't enough. The over the cap scenario is the best scenario for the team. But, there is also a scenario where we keep Hayes's 6.5 million cap hold on the books, sign both Smart and Kennard for 15.1 million each, sign Lebron for 19.5 million, and sign Rui for the 9.3 million room exception. This under the cap plan might be a good happy medium for all of these guys. Also leaves the option to use the 9.3 million on a player other than Rui.

 

Wemby is going to win the ring this year. He is absolutely devastating - held Portland to 37 in the second half. 7 blocks, 4 steals but he just shut down their offense in the paint.

He is the best defender I’ve seen.