A few days before the opening of the Free Agency, a new name is added to the list of free agents. And not just any, since it is Jerami Grant, the strong winger of the Nuggets. Author of good playoffs in the bubble, Grant wants to take advantage of his good odds.
Logical decision therefore for Jerami. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo SportsGrant unsurprisingly decided to decline his player option of $ 9.3 million for the 2020-21 season. After a good season in Denver, the 26-year-old is well aware he can earn a lot more on his next contract. How ? The market will dictate this but we are talking about a player with qualities adapted to the current NBA: 4-3 of 2m06 for 95 kilos, handsome athlete, solid defensively and versatile, all this with an outside shoot that has become reliable (39% of 3-point success over the last two seasons). You got it, the boy ticks a lot of boxes. And if his offensive efficiency declined during the Playoffs, he was clearly one of the reasons for the Nuggets’ superb run in the bubble (16 games as a holder in PO after only 24 in the regular season, 34.4 minutes against 26 , 6 in SR), who managed to reach the Western Conference Final against the Lakers. Suddenly, we can expect to see several teams on the file, even if the franchises with the pay margin to try to sign it are not numerous. Because there is a way that the guy aims in the 15 million dollars a year, or even more, and this over several seasons.
Yahoo Sources: Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant is declining his $9.3 million player option for the 2020-21 season to become an unrestricted free agent.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) November 16, 2020
Despite Jerami Grant’s free agent status, the Nuggets appear favorites to extend him. Denver is an ambitious franchise, it really just opened the window to play the title and Jerami is an integral part of the project.. In addition, must not forget that Denver dropped a first round of Draft 2020 to secure the services of the guy in the summer of 2019. So we can hardly see Tim Connelly and his clique not doing what is necessary to extend it, the Nuggets can offer any amount to the player since they have their Bird Rights. From a financial point of view, Paul Millsap’s big contract (more than 30 million salary) is about to end, as is that of Mason Plumlee (14 million salary), which gives air to the Nuggets even if at the same time, the big extension of Jamal Murray will start in 2020-21 (29 million). We will see what Denver will do on the Millsap and Plumlee files (two veterans who count) in relation to Grant, but we imagine that the file of the latter is at the top of the stack. As for Jerami, if he will logically assess the options available to him, he also seems interested in continuing the adventure in Mile High City. He looks pretty comfortable in the Denver collective and has the opportunity to spend his best years on a team wanting to play the leading roles in the West, with Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic by his side.
In their climb to the top, the Nuggets know Jerami Grant can be of great help. And the player finds himself in a rather advantageous situation, which seems to suit him well. So, this new free agent status, is it a simple step towards an extension in Denver? Answer in a few days.
Source texte : Yahoo Sports
