Denver Nuggets: Complete 2018 offseason grades
By Max Carlin
The Wilson Chandler trade
The Barton contract was the first domino of the Nuggets’ luxury tax saga of the summer of 2018. The second was Denver’s trade of Wilson Chandler to the Philadelphia 76ers along with a 2021 second-round pick for Philadelphia’s troubles.
On its surface, paying to get rid of an expiring contract belonging to a guy who started 71 games and played 2,346 minutes the year prior doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Of course, the motivations for this trade had nothing to do with basketball. Instead, the object of the trade was to save Stan Kroenke $50 million in combined salary and luxury tax payments.
Prior to the trade, Denver’s 2018-19 luxury tax bill and payroll simply would’ve been unreasonably large. Salary dumps are rarely good from a basketball perspective and should generally not be accepted by fans.
However, this one, unlike another we’ll get to later, will not have a deleterious long-term impact on the Nuggets. I don’t love it, but I understand the reality of why it had to happen.
Grade: C+