The Denver Nuggets have signed six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan to a one-year, $3.9-million contract, adding a veteran scorer who averaged 18.4 points and 4.1 assists last season with the Sacramento Kings. Since entering the league in 2009, DeRozan has made stops with Toronto, San Antonio, Chicago and Sacramento, building a career on mid-range shot-making and volume scoring rather than three-point volume. The move comes after an offseason in which the franchise often appeared to be moving in the opposite direction from the one that produced its 2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) championship, with a roster that kept getting more expensive, a bench that had become less dependable, and difficult decisions required simply to stay within the league's financial rules.

The departure of Peyton Watson, in particular, represented a concession to the reality that building around Nikola Jokic had become increasingly costly. Against that backdrop of financial housekeeping rather than championship planning, the DeRozan signing stands out as a familiar kind of move for the Nuggets: the addition of another accomplished veteran.

The signing makes sense partly because Denver did not have the luxury of chasing perfection. Its offseason additions were largely about filling holes rather than transforming the lineup. Tyus Jones was retained as the backup point guard, Marvin Bagley III was added to provide minutes behind Jokic, and Spencer Jones was kept after the Nuggets matched the Thunder's offer sheet — a decision that further complicated an already crimped payroll. The result was hardly ideal: the team remained in obvious need of another creator, particularly for stretches when Jamal Murray would need rest, yet had little financial flexibility to address it. That inflexibility has a specific source: Denver has operated above the NBA's second apron in recent seasons, a payroll tier that strips teams of tools such as the taxpayer mid-level exception and the ability to aggregate salaries in trades, which makes low-cost veteran signings one of the few levers a front office in that position can still pull. The $3.9-million figure is likewise a steep reduction from the three-year contract DeRozan signed with Sacramento in 2024.

DeRozan does not solve every problem, but he addresses one that has grown increasingly important — providing somebody else who can take the ball, create a shot, and organize an offense when the Nuggets' two best offensive players are not on the floor. His 49.7% shooting clip last season also suggests that, even at 37, he remains considerably more than a ceremonial veteran.

There is, however, an evident contradiction in the move. The Nuggets need athleticism and defense, and DeRozan provides neither in abundance. He is not a high-volume three-point shooter, which could make certain second-unit combinations difficult for a team that already depends heavily on spacing around Jokic. More significantly, replacing a young two-way player like Watson with an aging scorer changes the character of the roster: Watson represented part of Denver's future, while DeRozan represents its present. That distinction matters because the Nuggets are no longer simply trying to build a good team around their foundational piece — they are trying to maximize what remains of a championship window that has already begun to narrow.

How head coach David Adelman chooses to deploy DeRozan will be among the more intriguing questions of the season. DeRozan has essentially been a starter throughout his career, and asking him to become a sixth man at this stage will require some adjustment. It may, however, be the role that gives the Nuggets the most value: the starting group of Murray, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Jokic can remain intact, while DeRozan becomes the offensive stabilizer for the second unit. He can also be staggered with Murray or Jokic, ensuring that a proven creator is on the floor for much of the game. The Nuggets do not need him to be the player who carried the Raptors or the Bulls; they need him to make stretches with reserves less vulnerable and to provide another option when playoff defenses inevitably take away the first two or three choices.

Viewed in that light, the signing should be seen less as a blockbuster and more as an admission of where the Nuggets stand in their championship cycle. They are not rebuilding, nor are they making the sweeping moves that would suggest they have abandoned their core. They are placing calculated bets on the present, even when those bets come at the expense of the future. DeRozan may not fix Denver's defensive shortcomings or make its bench younger, but he gives the team something it badly lacked: another veteran who has spent a career understanding how to manufacture points when the game becomes difficult. The question has never been whether Jokic can make the Nuggets competitive; it is whether they can keep giving their superstar help before time, age, and the economics of the NBA make the answer increasingly difficult. The DeRozan deal is the latest attempt to make sure that question does not have to be answered yet — until when is, unfortunately, another matter altogether.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.