The Denver Nuggets were optimistic on reaching a new deal with their budding star, Kenneth Faried, this offseason and it appears their optimism was correct. Faried played a vital role in Team USA's road to Gold in this year's FIBA World Cup and shined during his third season in the NBA so keeping him locked in for the future was a wise decision for the Nuggets.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has the news on Faried's new contract:
Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried has reached agreement on a five-year, $60 million contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports... The deal includes a partial guarantee in the fifth year that assures Faried he will make no less than $52 million over the life of the contract, sources said.
But Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk believes that Faried could not have signed a five-year, $60 million contract extension because it's simply impossible according to CBA rules. Feldman writes:
Despite Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reporting the contrary, extensions to rookie-scale contracts - with one exception - can be for just four seasons. The exception is when a team makes someone its designated player by giving him a five-year extension to a rookie-scale deal, but designated players must receive a max salary and 7.5 percent annual raises.
For Faried to be the Nuggets' designated player, based on the NBA's projected 2015-16 salary cap, his five-year extension would be worth about $89 million - far more than the reported $60 million.
The original agreed-upon deal would pay Faried an average of $12 million per season which is way below a maximum contract. So does this mean that Faried's contract extension would be amended to a four year deal around $48 million including bonuses and incentives? But its mostly likely that the Nuggets will offer him $15 million a year for four years for a grand total of $60 million which is the amount reported by Wojnarowski.
So what's the truth in Faried's new contract extension? Only two most likely scenarios come to mind: a Five-year, $89 million extension or a Four-year, $60 million. Either way, we will know for sure once the Nuggets officially announces the deal. The Nuggets and Faried have until October 31 - the deadline for the 2011 rookie class to agree on an extension - so we will just have to wait before the details of the contract become official.
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