Denver Nuggets: 3 players facing most pressure in 2019-20

2. Jerami Grant

The aforementioned Jerami Grant has a lot of pressure on him this season. His pressure isn’t on him to perform to show his skills. It’s on him to show that last season was what can be expected of him moving forward and why he deserves a pay raise next offseason.

Grant is currently scheduled to make $9.346 million this season with a player option for an identical amount next year. Where does that rank among small forwards? Down at 27th.

Some players making more money than him right now include Maurice Harkless, Solomon Hill and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Grant is a better two-way player than each of those guys and he could get himself a shiny new paycheck to prove it with a big season in 2019-20.

Last season, he shot 39.4 from 3-point range while grading out positively on the defensive end of the floor. He just needs to make that happen again next season.

If he can make that happen, he can decline his player option to receive a massive pay increase either from the Denver Nuggets or a different NBA team. Three-and-D wings get paid even if they aren’t superstars.

If he wants to receive a pay raise to get what he thinks he’s probably worth, he has to continue to shoot well while playing quality defense. If he struggles, that’s not likely going to happen.