Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly said he was optimistic about getting a contract extension done for his burgeoning star, Kenneth Faried, and he’s done just that.
Faried and the Nuggets have agreed on an extension, according to a league source. The only question remaining is just how long the extension will be. Faried is going into the last year of his rookie-scale contract. By NBA collective bargaining rules, his contract can be extended up to four years beyond the last year of his current deal, bringing the total to five seasons.
The Nuggets have attempted to award him a five-year deal beyond this season, which would bring the total to six seasons. In order to do that, they would have to make Faried a “designated player.” And according to the CBA, designated players’ first-year salary is the max, which means Faried would have to be paid a max contract under those rules.
The value of the original agreed-upon pact was an average of $12 million per season, well under a maximum contract. It is most likely that Faried’s deal gets amended to a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $48 million, plus whatever bonuses and incentives are included in the deal.
No matter how it ends up, the two sides are extremely close on officially finalizing a contract that would make Faried and guard Ty Lawson the highest-paid Nuggets. Lawson is going into the second year of his own $48 million deal, which he signed in 2012.
Faried has steadfastly declined extensive comment on contract negoatiations, and won’t talk about it until the deal is fully done. The Nuggets are in San Diego, where they will open preseason play against the L.A. Lakers on Monday night.
All of this, however, is the culmination of a stellar year so far for the Nuggets’ energetic power forward. He played top-shelf basketball at the end of last year’s regular season and followed that up with eye-opening play with the USA Basketball Team in its gold medal-winning performance at the FIBA World Cup in the summer.
Faried and the Nuggets had until the league deadline of Oct. 31 to get a deal done, or Faried would have become a restricted free agent after the upcoming season. The original deal under question, first reported by Yahoo Sports, puts an end to any doubt as to whether the Nuggets value their star enough to make a long-term commitment to him.
Faried had to fight through a barrage of trade concern last season. Not anymore.
The Nuggets view him as a building block in their hopes to return to the postseason. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw pulled both he and guard Ty Lawson into his office late last season to emphasize that they were the faces of the franchise and the leaders of the team.
“He brought us in and was like, now you two are the franchise players for us, your teammates are expecting you to make the big plays, just be ready day-in and day-out,” Lawson told The Post last week. “That’s what he wanted us to do; to be ready, don’t be late for things, just make sure you’re on-point and on-cue.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost
