Denver Nuggets: Kenneth Faried Agrees To Extension
After last night’s news about the NBA’s new TV deal, which will eventually be accompanied by a much higher salary cap, suddenly the Denver Nuggets might be sitting pretty with Kenneth Faried‘s new contract extension.
As first reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, the Manimal has agreed to a five-year, $60 million extension with the Nuggets. The fifth year is partially guaranteed, but at the very least Faried will make $52 million. The Nuggets had until Oct. 31 to come to an agreement on an extension with 2011 NBA Draft selection, whose extension will kick in for the 2015-16 season.
Only a year ago, Faried’s name was involved in a lot of trade rumors, with the most popular one being he could be shipped to the New York Knicks in a deal involving Iman Shumpert. But the trade rumors added fuel to Faried’s fire and he became a 20-10 guy for the last two months of the season, making good on his potential and making it pretty hard for the Nuggets to imagine dealing him away. The Manimal carried his progress forward into a terrific summer at the FIBA World Cup, where he was one of Team USA’s best and hardest working players en route to the gold medal.
At 24 years old, Faried’s best days are still ahead of him and though his game still needs a lot of fine-tuning, his relentless motor and breathtaking athleticism still make him a promising prospect even after three years in the league. Faried only averaged 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game last season, but he was one of Denver’s few durable players and if he can continue to produce at a high level, the Nuggets will be competing for a playoff spot in 2014-15.
Faried’s true value in a vacuum is hard to place. His hustle and his ability to run the floor and rise up for alley-oops on the break makes him a great fit for the fast-paced offense of the Nuggets. He’s not a great defender and though his post game has vastly improved on offense since he entered the league, he still has work to do. His inability to spread the floor with a jump shot can sometimes clog the middle, but he’s also most effective on offense when he’s getting second-chance points off of missed shots.
After such a standout summer with Team USA, Faried was in a good place to negotiate a new contract extension, which quickly became one of Denver’s biggest offseason priorities. Though you can only put so much stock in an international competition against lesser talent, the Manimal earned his minutes on a star-studded roster and the rest of the basketball world certainly noticed.
Though $60 million seems like a lot for a hardworking athlete who scores mostly on hustle points and can’t hit a consistent jumper, the NBA’s new TV deal worth $24 billion will raise the league’s salary cap. There probably won’t be a dramatic increase in one year, as the league will most likely steadily raise the salary cap over the next two years until the new deal kicks in.
But according to Dan Feldman of NBC Sports, the salary cap could increase by about $16 million, meaning Faried’s new deal could be a steal in a couple of years, depending on how he continues to progress.
Though he and JaVale McGee certainly need to work on their post defense, this healthy Nuggets team will be competing for a playoff spot in the brutal West with a healthy McGee, Danilo Gallinari and Nate Robinson returning, not to mention the return of Arron Afflalo to Denver. Locking Faried in to a deal that seems overpriced now, but is fair to both sides considering the NBA’s new lucrative TV deal, eliminates any anxiety between the two sides and allows the Manimal to focus solely on the 2014-15 season.