The Nuggets are a mile high and perhaps six feet under

Denver matches an offer sheet for Spencer Jones and is still hoping to retain Peyton Watson. They are swallowed by the luxury tax and it might be over.

Good morning. Well, Adam Silver, LeBron signed. Where are the schedules, hm? Let's basketball.

The Denver Nuggets won the championship in 2023, and within the mandated five-year afterglow, we officially still can't tell them nothin'. One small problem though is that in the team's attempts to keep a championship-quality roster around one of the greatest players of the last quarter-century, the Nuggets are in salary cap hell.

On Friday, the cheeky Thunder, who themselves just escaped the second apron in the afterglow zone, issued an offer sheet to LinkedIn All-Star Spencer Jones for two years, $12 million. The Nuggets are in repeater tax hell right now, so the bill for Jones for 2026-27 is actually $36 million. But they matched it anyways. According to ESPN, Denver is now the only team above the second apron and has a $68 million luxury tax bill.

Obviously, the Kroenkes have never spent quite like that. Denver has paid luxury tax three times this decade – in 2023, 2024 and 2025 – but those bills totaled to less than the $68 million they are on the hook for now. There's also the matter of Peyton Watson, who unlike Jones is still floating around in restricted free agency. Watson has reportedly looking for more than what Christian Braun signed for last season, which was $25 million per year.

Denver's tax bill is quite possibly already past the breaking point, especially given that the team has won exactly two playoff series since hoisting a banner at Ball Arena. Adding gobs more penalties to retain Watson will certainly push it over the edge.