I wanted to break down what clearing out max cap space for someone like Jimmy Butler would look like.

Below is the Nuggets guaranteed salary for 2019.

2019-20

Nikola Jokic $ 27,504,630

Gary Harris $ 17,839,286

Mason Plumlee $ 14,041,096

Will Barton $ 13,017,857

Jamal Murray $ 4,444,746

Michael Porter Jr. $ 3,389,280

Juancho Hernangomez$ 3,321,030

Torrey Craig $ 2,000,000

Tyler Lydon $ 2,190,720

Malik Beasley $ 2,731,714

Jarred Vanderbilt $ 1,331,463

——

Total $ 92,643,703

Salary Cap $ 108,000,000

The Total above includes a single minimum roster charge. All salary calculations below account for minimum roster charges.

Jimmy will be an 8 year vet in 2019.

The Max for a 7-9 year player in 2019 is $32,400,000.

Getting rid of Plumlee opens up $28,451,418 in cap space.

Getting rid of Juancho and Beasley opens up $ 32,783,353 in cap space (~400K above the max). At this point we would be able to offer Jimmy the full max.

Alternatively getting rid of Plumlee along with Lydon, Beasley and Craig opens up enough space as well. That way you keep Juancho but get rid of Lydon and Craig instead.

If Jimmy took ~800k less than the max that would allow us to keep both Craig and Juancho. Getting rid of just Lydon and Beasley (of course alongside Plumlee as well).

PG: Murray

SG: Harris

SF: Butler

PF: Porter

C: Jokic

Bench: Barton, Vanderbilt, Morris and Craig or Juancho