Fans Call Sam Presti ‘Savage’ for Sneaky Spencer Jones Offer Sheet That Pushed Nuggets Into Second Apron
Sam Presti sees the entire chessboard. Sometimes he uses it to make a rival’s life miserable.
This week the Oklahoma City Thunder general manager pulled off a cheeky offseason maneuver, signing Denver Nuggets restricted free agent Spencer Jones to a two-year, $12 million offer sheet. The Nuggets matched, as they were always going to, but the price of matching pushed Denver into the second apron for the coming season.
NBA Twitter caught on quickly. Fans are now calling Presti a “savage” for the move, and it is hard to disagree.
Here is what makes it clever. The Nuggets were already flirting with the second apron, one of the most punitive tiers in the new collective bargaining agreement. Once a team crosses into that territory, their ability to make trades, aggregate salary, and use certain exceptions is severely limited. Denver’s roster building for the next two seasons becomes a lot harder because they cannot do a lot of the things a regular contender can.
Presti did not just sign an offer sheet to acquire Spencer Jones. He signed the offer sheet knowing exactly how it would affect the Nuggets’ cap sheet, and knowing exactly how it would complicate their negotiations with Peyton Watson, another restricted free agent Denver is trying to keep at a manageable number.
It is the kind of thing you cannot get away with unless you have a clean cap sheet and a front office that plays this stuff seven moves out. The Thunder have both.
The Thunder are also the reigning champions, coming off a title season that vaulted them past the traditional powers. Presti has always operated with a long view, hoarding picks and building around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with a stack of young talent that will keep OKC in the mix for years. Making it harder for the West’s other contenders to reload is just another way to protect that runway.
The victim here is Denver. Nikola Jokic is still Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets will still be dangerous. But every roster tweak they want to make is going to be more expensive. Every trade they want to consider is going to face new restrictions. Their attempt to keep Watson has already gotten harder, with the young forward now reportedly considering accepting his qualifying offer rather than taking Denver’s five-year, $70 million extension.
Denver essentially walked into a trap Presti set with a pen and a phone call. They can complain about it, but the second apron rules exist for exactly this kind of situation, and Presti simply read the rulebook better than anyone else.
This is why he is the best executive in the NBA. It is also why every other West front office is going to spend the next month checking the fine print on every restricted free agent they have.
Sam Presti did not shoot a jumper this week. He might have changed the standings anyway.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
