The Nuggets might've just repeated the same big mistake with their latest move

With the flurry of contract extensions prior to the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, it was easy to overlook the Denver Nuggets' extension of Aaron Gordon. Gordon is arguably the team's third-best player and many had watched the situation surrounding his extension.

This after the Nuggets wildly overpaid for Michael Porter Jr. by offering him the max when other teams likely weren't going to do the same thing. They also gave Jamaal Murray a 4-year, $208 million extension despite the concerns over his health and conditioning. 

Now comes Gordon's deal, which will add another three years to his current contract after opting into his player option for next season.

The Denver Nuggets' extension of Aaron Gordon is a good deal but it comes with some risk.

The annual cost of Gordon's deal is more than $44 million a season, which seems like a lot, and it is, but with the salary cap soon set to explode, it may soon look like a bargain. After this season, the cap is expected to hit $154.6 million in 2025-26 and $170.6 million in 2026-27, respectively.

For comparison, that is just 18.8% and then 18.4% of the cap, with that percentage dropping further in the last year of his deal. That is due to the salary cap jumping by 10% a season, which would outpace Gordon's annual raises.

Getting Gordon back for around 18.5% of the cap going forward is a great price for the Nuggets' third-best player. That being said, the Nuggets overpaid for Porter Jr., who will make $105 million or $35 million on average over the next three seasons.

Paying a fourth option that much is going to hurt. It is made even worse by contracts such as Zeke Nnajis', which will basically pay an end-of-bench player $8 million on average for this season and the next three after this one.

Will the Nuggets regret locking up their core-four players to long-term deals? 

The Nuggets already don't have a lot of flexibility, with just four of their picks remaining and them limited further by restrictions on which picks they can trade. They could trade Porter Jr. at some point for two rotation players or hope that young players like Christian Braun and Julian Strawther take a big leap while still on their rookie contracts.

That seems possible but Murray's contract seems like it will be a bad deal and it could eventually make it even harder for them to build around Nikola Jokic. They may not regret paying Gordon but it does make it harder for the Nuggets to make drastic changes around Jokic. That means they are committed to their core for the time being and are forced to hope for the best.