MPJ has a nerve issue in his back that could jeopardize his season

[CptCrunch]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

Why would they still owe him money if he doesnt play? That is the entire point of a contract. He signed the deal to play basketball for the Nuggets for the next 5 seasons after this season. They owe him the money when he plays those seasons. If he doesnt play those seasons, the Nuggets dont owe him squat.

NBA contracts are fully guaranteed the moment they are signed. It doesn't matter that MPJ cannot play or does not play, he gets paid no matter what (unless he pulls a Simmons and stops cooperating with the team doctors in this case).

[Dr Aki]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

Why would they still owe him money if he doesnt play? That is the entire point of a contract. He signed the deal to play basketball for the Nuggets for the next 5 seasons after this season. They owe him the money when he plays those seasons. If he doesnt play those seasons, the Nuggets dont owe him squat.

MPJ ain't giving that money up, he's gonna keep trying to come back for that 30 mil per year

[Duke4life831]

good thing he signed that deal …

he knew his fate his whole family was like this. pretty sure denvers insurance protected otherwise insane to offer early.

Wouldn’t be surprised if MPJ’s contract either isn’t insured at all, isn’t insured if he’s unable to play due to his chronic back condition, or if the insurance company fights it due to preexisting condition Denver should’ve known about.

A little too convenient to expect an insurance company to pay such a huge lump sum for a contract you offered a player with a chronic back condition you knew about that is now preventing him from playing.

This is the best I can find

"As of today, we haven’t heard anything about injury protections in Michael Porter Jr.’s contract. The All-NBA/All-Star teams are a standard incentive for many players in their contracts, big or small, but it’s especially common to include injury or games played incentives for players with an injury history."

https://nugglove.com/2021/10/01/denver-nuggets-biggest-risk-michael-porter-jr-extension/

This was from an article about a month and a half ago. I couldn't find any articles or anything that says there were specific protections in place. Not saying there isn't, like this article says its pretty common to include them with a player with the history like MPJ. But haven't found any articles specifically saying there were strict injury protections in the contract.

[art_tatum]

Damn isn't that what happened to Tmac too? That sidelined him a bunch of times for Houston which killed any run they had at a title. Would've beat the Lakers that year if him and Yao stayed healthy.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Damn isn't that what happened to Tmac too? That sidelined him a bunch of times for Houston which killed any run they had at a title. Would've beat the Lakers that year if him and Yao stayed healthy.

It was a miracle T-Mac was in the NBA at all. Believe he said doctors told him he had no shot.

[DelAbbot]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

MPJ can be deemed medically retired by other people without his own input? That sounds wrong.

MPJ will not want to retire. He will want to keep rehabbing until he can come back and play in some role (less than a max player). During which time, Denver will be burdened with his max contract, producing little on court value, hurting Jokic’s contention window - causing Joikc to Leave

[dockingsched]

he knew his fate his whole family was like this. pretty sure denvers insurance protected otherwise insane to offer early.

Wouldn’t be surprised if MPJ’s contract either isn’t insured at all, isn’t insured if he’s unable to play due to his chronic back condition, or if the insurance company fights it due to preexisting condition Denver should’ve known about.

A little too convenient to expect an insurance company to pay such a huge lump sum for a contract you offered a player with a chronic back condition you knew about that is now preventing him from playing.

This is the best I can find

"As of today, we haven’t heard anything about injury protections in Michael Porter Jr.’s contract. The All-NBA/All-Star teams are a standard incentive for many players in their contracts, big or small, but it’s especially common to include injury or games played incentives for players with an injury history."

https://nugglove.com/2021/10/01/denver-nuggets-biggest-risk-michael-porter-jr-extension/

This was from an article about a month and a half ago. I couldn't find any articles or anything that says there were specific protections in place. Not saying there isn't, like this article says its pretty common to include them with a player with the history like MPJ. But haven't found any articles specifically saying there were strict injury protections in the contract.

Good find, however this focuses more on MPJs salary guarantees and incentives, or better put whether MPJ gets paid or not.

The other issue is who would pay MPJ, whatever amount he’s owed. I predict it won’t be as easy as saying the insurance company would pay it. Too much money and a preexisting condition makes me think the insurance on the contract isn’t that straight forward. We’ll see.

[dockingsched]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

MPJ can be deemed medically retired by other people without his own input? That sounds wrong.

MPJ will not want to retire. He will want to keep rehabbing until he can come back and play in some role (less than a max player). During which time, Denver will be burdened with his max contract, producing little on court value, hurting Jokic’s contention window - causing Joikc to Leave

Yes he can be deemed medically retired even if he’s still trying to comeback and play by an independent doctor. It’ll be up to him at that point to prove the medical retirement wrong. Read up on Darius Miles who went through this.

[DelAbbot]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

Why would they still owe him money if he doesnt play? That is the entire point of a contract. He signed the deal to play basketball for the Nuggets for the next 5 seasons after this season. They owe him the money when he plays those seasons. If he doesnt play those seasons, the Nuggets dont owe him squat.

Like how GSW hasn’t paid Klay any money for missing the past 2 seasons?

[DusterBuster]

good thing he signed that deal …

Top 5 dumbest/riskiest contracts ever handed out by a franchise?

[J_T]

Tell me something new. Locker room cancer, long history of back/nerve problems for him and his family. The only ones not considering all this were the Nuggets. Where are all the Nuggets fans now, boasting what kind of a brilliant draft steal they've accomplished?

[Ryoga Hibiki]

And they're on the hook for $200 million

It was a dumb thing to do even when not considering the injury risk. You don't max out a guy a year early when he hasn't proven to be max worthy. You only extend guys like that early if the team is getting a little early bird discount

it's unlikely he'll make an all nba team

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

[HMFFL]

It sucks to say, but this is one of the main reasons he fell in the draft. Many teams considered him a medical red flag and undraftable.

Nerve issues in the back is some scary stuff. Im no doctor but that seems like a pretty risky thing and something I would be more worried about than just missing the rest of a basketball season over. Hopefully he can get healthy but this was something all the teams knew about him. Also Im pretty sure the Denver contract has a ton of medical exemptions written in it.

Yes, at one point he was the lock to be the first overall pick. I'm was surprised Denver offered him the contract they did even if they need to do anything they can to retain superior talent.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

Can someone actually explain what his back issues are? Can he not fix them without PT? I know he’s had issues and surgeries, etc. but physical therapy for a year or something might be able to heal him. The only caveat is that it might not be enough to function as an NBA player

[mpoo_sin]

Medically retire, collect 5.3m this year, then 172m over 5 years.

Nuggets are on the hook for 177.3m over the next 6 years.

The contract they offered him just ended Jokic's contention window as I called it in the thread.

edit: Apparently the Nuggets can get MPJ's salary off their books if a team doctor and NBA doctor both agree that MPJ should be medically retired. They still owe the man his money though.

Why would they still owe him money if he doesnt play? That is the entire point of a contract. He signed the deal to play basketball for the Nuggets for the next 5 seasons after this season. They owe him the money when he plays those seasons. If he doesnt play those seasons, the Nuggets dont owe him squat.

*facepalm
You are so wrong here, and it is not even close!

[God Squad]

Nuggets potentially closed the door on Jokics contention.

[CP War Hawks]

I thought it was understood the guy was always on borrowed time similar to Roy. Happy the dude got his financial outlook secured, but Den better had hope insurance helps them on the books

[DaddyCool19]

Don't max walking injury risks prematurely. I wonder how much money (and cap space) they would've saved, if they waited a full season. Why not let him earns his money, while Murray is out?

[azuresou1]

Nuggets were dumb AF to offer him that contract from the very beginning

[ArtMorte]

Jokic getting on his chariot as we speak to ride the **** out of Denver lol.