End of the line for Denver Nuggets. The team of rocky He has had a very difficult season. Jamal Murray was injured last April and, despite constant rumors about his return, he has not played the entire course and has missed the last two full playoffs, 2021 and 2022. Michael Porter Jr was struck down in November, after only nine regular season games, and he has not been able to return after undergoing surgery for a back problem, a particularly delicate matter for the forward. Without two of their three best players, the Nuggets held out above the play in (sixth out of the West, 48 wins), thanks basically to the magic of Nikola Jokic, who has all the ballots to win his second consecutive MVP.
In the playoffs, the Nuggets did everything they could and fought until the end, but reality was stubborn in their series against the Warriors closed with a 4-1 for the Bay. The season is over for a team that will now have to make decisions. JaMychal Green’s contract ends (he has a player option of more than 8 million, so in this case he decides), DeMarcus Cousins, Austin Rivers, Bryn Forbes… and Facundo Campazzo. ANDThe Argentine base has completed the two seasons for which he signed with the Nuggets in exchange for about 6.4 million dollars (6.2 guaranteed and some extras). Now he will be a free agent. If the team gives you a qualifying offer $4 million, restricted. If he doesn’t, and everything indicates that he won’t, the point guard will be free for all purposes to choose his destination.
With the qualyfing, his fate would not depend on him. The Nuggets could match any offer for him and keep him or, if there aren’t any, keep him next season for that $4 million. It seems obvious that Campazzo’s future, in any case, is not with the Nuggets. In the playoffs he has not reached 14 total minutes on court, in five games. Michael Malone, his trainer, spoke of using his energy as arma when the series traveled 2-0 from San Francisco to Colorado, but he barely had a presence in those two Nuggets home games either. And in the fifth he did not reach four minutes. A stark contrast to his 2021 playoffs: averaging 27 minutes through two playoffs with 9.3 points, 3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
Neither more nor less, the inertia of a season in which Campazzo gradually lost prominence until he was essentially out of the rotation after the first few months of competition in which Denver debated nonstop about the second unit and the problems of the quintets without Nikola Jokic on the court. In January, he played 16 games, in 13 at least 19 minutes. And he averaged 20.8 with 5.7 points and 4.6 assists. Then, eight games in February with 14.3 minutes, five in March with just one over six minutes and two in April, before the playoffs. And that’s a bad sign, in a team without its starting point guard, Jamal Murray., and who also lost PJ Dozier in the outside rotation, traded in January. In the final game of the series against the Warriors, not even the injury to Austin Rivers and the obvious exhaustion of the main players in the rotation gave Campazzo more space.
Now an uncertain summer arrives with a clear roadmap: Facundo Campazzo wants to continue in the NBA. It’s his dream, it was his big bet and he doesn’t want to give it up. He is 31 years old and knows that if he leaves, there will be no trip back to the US. In his environment he assures that they are calm, that despite his problems this season there will be NBA options. He cares about sports, but also economics. He is paying in installments a clause of 6 million euros to leave Real Madrid, the highest in European basketball. His salary this season, discounted taxes, was close to 2 million. So in his accounts is also looking for the best possible option from that point of view… but always in the NBA.
If not? Then the option of returning to Real Madrid will be considered. The white club has to renew its external battery (guards and shooting guards) but it knows that the Facu option is complicated. He leaves the door open every time he gets the chance, but always with the certainty that his plan A is the NBA. A few days ago he spoke about it again for the official League media: “I do not know what will happen. I want to continue in the NBA as long as I can. What my physique and my talent leave me. Then we’ll see. Real Madrid has always been like my home, so I could come back if they want me. But for now I’m calm, I’ll get anxiety in a couple of months”.
In the same interview, he acknowledges that it is very special for him to play in front of relatives: “I really appreciate it when they come to see me. My cousin started crying when he saw me play. My mother was very excited. I enjoy it very much, every day since I wake up. The NBA makes you enjoy everything.” And he talked about how he has had to adapt his game in the US: “In my career, he had always been the point guard with the ball in his hands. Here I have had to run much more. Our base is the center (Nikola Jokic). So I try to improve things like my mobility without the ball. And I think I’ve improved from the first season”.
And he admits, finally, that it is not easy to lose his place in the rotation, although he does not despair: “I’m not bad. I love to play, but I also want to learn. That’s what I try to learn. See the bright side of things, turn everything into constant learning. I want to play, but if I don’t want to be ready, work to be ready when the opportunity arises. By not playing, I train more. I do three against three with assistants and the other players who do not have minutes. At first I was more lazy, but now I have fun, I’m improving, I compete. I had a better time. I try to be happy, in a good mood, in good physical shape. Don’t just see the bad. I’m in the NBA, which is what I wanted. I try to put my energy into what I can control and take it in the best way possible.”
