NBA Free Agency: Grading all 30 teams on trades and signings

NBA Free Agency Grades: Denver Nuggets

Signings: Nikola Jokic (5 year, $264 million extension); Kentavius Caldwell-Pope (2 year, $30 million extension); Bruce Brown Jr. (2 years, $13.28 million); Vlatko Cancar (3 years, $6.82 million); Davon Reed (2 years, $3.97 million); DeAndre Jordan (1 year, $2.91 million)

Trades: Monte Morris, Will Barton to Washington Wizards for Ish Smith, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The Denver Nuggets that finished last year in a five-game gentleman’s sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors is making two massive additions: Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., both of whom missed all or most of last season, respectively. When healthy those are two near-All-Stars. Nothing they did in free agency approaches that.

Even so, the Nuggets didn’t sit back but attacked weaknesses on the roster even so. Signing Bruce Brown as a second defensive stopper to pair with Aaron Gordon, and to run incredibly inverted pick-and-roll actions with Nikola Jokic, is the exact sort of creative move that propels teams forward. The money is phenomenal for a player who impacts the game like Brown.

Then the Nuggets went out and traded Will Barton and Monte Morris for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, swapping the talented but ill-fitting Barton out for KCP, who fits like a glove in this starting lineup at the 2. They will miss Morris if Murray isn’t fully healthy, but between Smith, Brown and Jokic they have plenty of ball-handling to go around.

Keeping Vlatko Cancar continues to be a bizarre decision, but his salary hit is small over three years. Davon Reed is likewise on a very small deal. The biggest head-scratcher is DeAndre Jordan, who may only be making the minimum but seems like the wrong player to be announcing a deal for the moment free agency begins. There were and are a number of centers still on the market that have more to offer than the shell of DeAndre Jordan.

Grade: A-