The best part of Aaron Gordon’s contract extension to Michael Malone was the timing.
More than a month after point guard Jamal Murray signed a max extension with the Nuggets, this was the team’s last order of business to complete before opening night. Gordon’s four-year, $133 million agreement Monday signified a triumphant end to Denver’s heavily scrutinized offseason and a transition into basketball season. Now, Denver can tip off the 2024-25 season Thursday (8 p.m.) with its four best players under contract for the next three years.
No more lingering roster uncertainty, at least for the time being.
“I’m ecstatic,” Gordon said Tuesday at Ball Arena. “I’m really excited about it. I’m glad to be back.”
“I’m thankful that that contract is over, because (it means) less distractions,” Malone said. “As a coach, you want everybody focusing on the task at hand, and that’s the season. So to not have that hanging over (Gordon’s) shoulder, that allows him to fully focus on being the best Aaron Gordon for this team. Going out there, playing at a high level on both ends of the floor. Much is asked of Aaron Gordon. And he’s a guy that continues to show he’s more than capable of answering that call on both ends.”
The timing was also the front office’s favorite aspect of the deal. Gordon was eligible through the end of next June to sign an extension with the Nuggets, but Monday night was the deadline for that extension to include an opt-in on his previous contract’s 2025-26 player option, worth a team-friendly $22.8 million. By reaching the agreement when they did, the Nuggets will save about $9.2 million in cap space next season and millions more in luxury tax payments, staying under the second apron with an estimated $7.1 million remaining in wiggle room.
That’s enough to accommodate a free-agent acquisition at the taxpayer mid-level exception next summer like Dario Saric was this year.
“It was just about finding a win-win,” Gordon said. “I think winning cures everything. … I’m just gonna do what I can to hold up my end of the bargain.”
As for his end of the bargain: Gordon will still earn his max salary for the last three years of the contract, starting around $32 million in 2026-27 and ascending the next two seasons. The one-year delay is what makes it a win-win.
“I think we have a great opportunity to win,” the 29-year-old power forward said. “And that’s really what I’m here to do, and that’s really what I want to do, is win.”
He was eligible for the extension starting on Sept. 27, the first day of Denver’s training camp. Even before negotiations formally began, both Gordon and general manager Calvin Booth expressed a mutual desire to reach an agreement and confidence that a deal would get done. In three seasons and change with the Nuggets, Gordon has often gushed about his experience living in Denver and playing with center Nikola Jokic.
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“Playing alongside Joker, Jamal, MPJ, and being coached under Mike Malone, what more can you ask for?” he said. “From the moment that I got here, Mike Malone has put me in a position to succeed and flourish. He’s put me in the right place, and he’s encouraged me to just be myself, and he’s coached me and allowed me to be myself. So to be coached under him is a great thing. And then just playing alongside these great players and continuing to build a friendship, a bond, a brotherhood, and a team, I’m really excited for it.”
That bond has taken on a deeper meaning for him this year. After Gordon’s older brother, Drew, died in May, several Nuggets teammates traveled to attend the funeral. Gordon changed his jersey number this summer to No. 32, in honor of Drew.
“I love the characters on this team,” Gordon said Tuesday. “High-character team. Everybody is ultra-confident, ultra-talented and just good guys. Genuine, good people off the floor and killers on the floor. I don’t know. It’s an amazing feeling, having a group of guys that care for you so much. It doesn’t happen often — I say it a lot — it doesn’t happen often in the NBA where you have a group of guys that really care about each other on and off the floor.”
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