Denver Nuggets: 2017-18 player grades for Paul Millsap

Weaknesses

While staying in line with career averages in points, assists and defensive output, making $30 million per year, Millsap did not provide anything to write home about in his first year. Looking like an overpriced aging vet, Millsap’s free throw, field goal and effective field goal percentages — along with his Player Efficiency Rating — all dropped.

The silver lining in Millsap’s average play is the hope that the injury to his wrist played a significant role in his underwhelming play and overall contributions. After a full offseason to recover from injury and adapt to his new teammates, the thought is that the kinks will work themselves out.

Millsap enters a pivotal year in his contract heading into year two, and should he struggle early on, it would be no surprise for Denver to place him on the trade block to gain assets. The play of Jokic will obviously help Millsap when playing alongside him, but developing chemistry will be key given the success the Joker has had with or without him.

Paul Millsap is not the No. 1 option on the Denver Nuggets, and he was never meant to be. Moving forward though, should his play falter or the injury bug rears its ugly head again, Jokic has proved his worth more than enough to yield a trade for a comparable player to replace Millsap. Millsap must stay healthy for his defense to make an impact for a Nuggets team that has plenty of options on offense.