Denver Nuggets veteran forward Jeff Green has exercised his $4.5 million player option for the 2022-23 season, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. Green had until Monday to make his decision.
The 35-year-old Green played a key role for the Nuggets this past season with Michael Porter Jr. barely playing because of his back injury. Green appeared in 75 games and started 63 of those, averaging 10.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. He shot 52.4% from the field and 31.5% from 3-point range.
Assuming Green is kept and not traded away to save money (the Nuggets are currently expected to be in the luxury tax and just traded JaMychal Green to help reduce their tax bill for next season), he will again play an important veteran role in 2022-23. While the return of Porter (and Jamal Murray) would likely limit Green's minutes, he would surely still get a good amount of playing time off the bench.
With Porter and Murray back, Denver is expected to be a title contender next season. The Nuggets just didn't have enough around Nikola Jokic to help him against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Green did have a rough go of it against the Warriors, averaging just 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game in the postseason. He started all five games against Golden State.
It has already been a rather eventful offseason for Denver since that playoff loss. In addition to that JaMychal Green trade, Tim Connelly left the front office to run the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Calvin Booth taking his place as the head of basketball operations. Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic is expected to sign a supermax contract this summer.
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