The Nuggets have re-signed free agent Vlatko Cancar to a new one-year deal in free agency, the team announced Tuesday.
Denver declined Cancar’s $2.35 million team option in June, a mutually beneficial maneuver that will now simultaneously increase Cancar’s salary and decrease his cap figure on a new veteran minimum contract, according to a league source. Cancar has spent his whole NBA career in Denver, playing in 130 games and starting 11 across the last five seasons.
Minimum salaries for NBA players increase each of their first 10 years of service, but the league reimburses teams for any amount of money committed over the minimum salary of a two-year player, in order to de-incentivize signing younger players for a cheaper minimum.
Cancar, 27, is a five-year veteran entering the 2024-25 season, meaning his minimum salary on a newly signed contract is $2.43 million — about $80,000 more than his salary would’ve been under the structure of his previous deal if Denver had picked up the team option.
But the number that counts toward Denver’s salary cap sheet will be just $2.09 million, saving the Nuggets about $260,000 in cap space.
The Slovenian forward missed the entire 2023-24 NBA season after he tore his left ACL during an international game last August in preparation for the FIBA World Cup. He returned from the injury last week in Piraeus, Greece, where Slovenia was competing in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth was in attendance for the tournament to watch Cancar, a trip that also allowed him to recruit Croatian big man Dario Saric in free agency. Saric agreed to a two-year deal at the taxpayer mid-level exception on Saturday, sources said.
Cancar struggled in Slovenia’s three games. He shot 3 for 19 from the field, including an 0-for-12 clip in the last two games, and missed 13 of 14 attempts from beyond the arc. In 67 minutes, he amassed 14 points, eight rebounds, one assist and two turnovers.
The Nuggets are hopeful those numbers aren’t indicative of anything more than rust. The 2022-23 NBA season was Cancar’s best from 3-point range. He averaged 1.9 attempts per game, more than twice his previous career high, and made 37.4% of those 3s.
Above all, Cancar is a good friend to three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic and a valued locker room presence the Nuggets wanted back next season after keeping him on the roster for the duration of his injury rehab process.
Two roster spots remain for Denver, one of which is expected to be filled by veteran center DeAndre Jordan.
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Originally Published: July 7, 2024 at 11:10 a.m.
