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

[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.

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).

There’s a ton of nba contracts that aren’t guaranteed. MPJ’s contract for example only has $12 mil out of $39 mil guaranteed in year five.

[Duke4life831]

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).

To be clear though, the teams dont pay for a medically retired player. Its been awhile since I read up on it, but I believe insurance companies are the ones that pay it (or at least like 90% of it) and they can just get a disabled players exception. So if MPJ retires, he wont effect their cap and insurance companies are paying him not the Nuggets.

[Jkam31]

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

Literally made no sense even if Porter was completely healthy like why just wait

[Duke4life831]

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?

Klay didnt retire. Team's arent on the hook for medically retired players. Insurance takes care of it and the teams can get player exceptions for the cap. If MPJ were to medically retire today, it would have very little long term effect on the Nuggets.

[Greek]

As someone who faces similar issues since my younger days it's safe to say that he will not play again, or even if he tries will fail. The run and jumb is a killer. Doctor got me out of mountain biking and is only allow me to use my road bike, but even that no more big climbing, just to keep the pain on tolerable levels.

Sent from my SM-N950F using RealGM mobile app

[JonFromVA]

We know next to nothing at this point. If this is a disc problem there would be neve impingement and pain, its operable and/or rehabbable.

Denver would normally insure a large contract like that, but that doesn't mean they were able to in his case or how much of the bill they'll be stuck with.

[Clav]

Would this, or other medical retirements classify as special injury exemptions, wherein this scenario Denver is not responsible for the cap-hold, and the Association's medical insurance policy pays out the player ? Or is Denver responsible for MPJ's cap-hold for future salarycap ?

[Karate Diop]

And this is why the smart move was ALWAYS to trade MPJ not offer him a gargantuan extension and hope he learns how to play a semblance of defense...

[Tomjas]

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

My son is currently experiencing back nerve pain stemming from a prolapsed disc

He’s only 16 and the hope is that he will recover in 3-4 months with 4 sessions of pt per week

Things get a bit dicier as you get older for whatever reason & he would probably need to go under the knife

MPJ’s situation is obviously further complicated by his history

[Ballerhogger]

[streamable][/streamable]

good thing he signed that deal …

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

Yes

[Tomjas]

[streamable][/streamable]

good thing he signed that deal …

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

Yes

Weren’t there questions over whether he was worth the max based on his play alone?

[Ballerhogger]

[streamable][/streamable]

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

Yes

Weren’t there questions over whether he was worth the max based on his play alone?

He was never worth max to begin with . They wanted keep a core together that was obvious plan but didn’t work out .

[Lalouie]

is this the injury that flagged him in the draft?

[vxmike]

Nuggets potential closed the door on Jokics contention.

It’s slammed shut. Even if he gets medically retired they’ll probably lose a year or two of cap space plus they lose his on-court value.

They should have sold high and traded him rather than offering that extension.

[slicedbread2]

Nuggets potential closed the door on Jokics contention.

It’s slammed shut. Even if he gets medically retired they’ll probably lose a year or two of cap space plus they lose his on-court value.

They should have sold high and traded him rather than offering that extension.

I don't think teams were gonna take him as a centrepiece knowing his history. His health was such a huge elephant in the room that it couldn't be ignored. The Nuggets would've been forced to part with additional draft capital just to make teams consider it. Plus the other concern was if you didn't lock up Porter Jr. and he had an even better year and made an all-NBA team then it's 207M you'd have to pay him. As of now it'll be $172M with 145M guaranteed. They didn't want a Kevin Love/Gordon Hayward situation arising from it plus their options for alternatives were extremely limited.

As far as Jokic goes, the Nuggets can easily offer him a 5/241M deal before the 22-23 season and if he were to add more accolades it'd be higher. I don't see Jokic turning down that money knowing full well that if the Nuggets situation goes south he can always be a moved to a team of his choice and he'd have plenty of suitors. I hope he stays in Denver for his entire career as he's truly a transcendent talent that'll just get better.

A real shame that the Nuggets have been snake bitten by these injuries to Murray, Porter Jr., Barton at times and now Jokic. They've done a great job in developing young overlooked talents like Monte Morris and P.J. Dozier plus Bones Hyland has been a pleasant surprise. They could just tank it for the year and get a high pick while allowing Jokic and Murray to heal up along with MPJ.

Who knows maybe with the advances in medicine MPJ could end up being all right in the long run. Hell the injuries Kenyon Martin suffered would've ended his career in the 80's-90's and he was able to end up ending his career on his own terms.

Curse these injuries.

[Bologna Smasher]

This was too easy to see coming. Hopefully Murray can come back healthy before everything goes to hell in Denver.

As a big Jokic fan, this among a few other reasons is why I hoped the Nuggets would have traded Porter before giving him a monster deal.

[PlatinumState]

Nuggets should look into the possibility of voiding that extension
All I know I thought from the get go they gave him crazy money considering his fragility
If I was Jokic I'd be looking to bolt. Denvers roster is ghastly without MPJ, Barton and Murray

[Wolfgang630]

I never understood why they signed him to that big contract knowing his issues. If there’s clauses in there fine I guess? But he was supposed to be the third man and they screwed over Joker.

Joker probably will have to ask for a trade if he wants to win a championship

[Papi_swav]

man I feel for the kid

[Greek]

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

My son is currently experiencing back nerve pain stemming from a prolapsed disc

He’s only 16 and the hope is that he will recover in 3-4 months with 4 sessions of pt per week

Things get a bit dicier as you get older for whatever reason & he would probably need to go under the knife

MPJ’s situation is obviously further complicated by his history

I had pains since like 14, and the doc back then he told me to get in to the sports to strength my core, keep my weight down, and be fit, in order to postpone the surgery as much as i can. Usually i was getting lumbago almost everytime that the weather was getting colder. Then on my 33 hit the nerve, i couldnt walk at all, but a physio made miracles and with the cycling i was on a good shape, doing rides of 160 miles without any real issue. That was my life for the next 5-6 years. Then i hit the gym, and came back. Now i have mild to moderate pain all the time from my calf and down, but not strong enough to need a surgery (i am 43), but i know that i have max 5 years avoiding it.