Denver going long with AI

May 30, 2008 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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It’s starting to sound like the Denver Nuggets are willing to go long-term with Allen Iverson. Iverson has an opt-clause in his current deal, and he has till June 20th to exercise it. Iverson is scheduled to earn $20.84 million next season, so what would make AI opt out?

“We want to finish our career in Denver, but we have no decision on (whether Iverson will opt out),” said Iverson’s Personal Manager Gary Moore.

Surprising to hear someone close to Iverson say this, but if he truly does want to end his career in the Mile High city then opting out would be a good decision. The real question thou is this, Will Iverson be willing to forfeit some short term money, for long term security? That’s right, forfeit some money. The Nuggets are currently going to be paying big money in luxury tax next year, and if they could rework Iverson’s deal they could save themselves BIG money! Something like this is no longer out of the question in the NBA thou, Vince Carter did something similar to this last year with the New Jersey Nets.

After the season’s end, Moore said that he and Iverson would considering opt-ing out of the current deal, and possibly signing something like a 3-year contract. Nuggets VP of Basketball Operations, Mark Warkentien has admitted to having discussions with Moore, but would not elaborate. Moore just says, “They have gone quite well”.

I personally think this. If Iverson signs a long-term deal with the Nuggest, then the writing is on the wall for Carmelo Anthony. The door would be open and the team would be entertaining any and all trade offers. It’s obvious the team could win games with the combination of AI and Anthony, but only in the regular season. For a team to win in the playoffs, it needs chemistry and that is something these two just don’t have. Iverson was brought in to also help Melo get to the next level, that has not happened. If anything Melo has digressed in both attitude and defensively.

In addition, it’s been rumored the team has already been shopping Melo. So if they’ve been shopping Melo and talking long term with AI, does that mean they fully believe Iverson is their answer? (yes, pun intended).

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