Kenneth Faried is valued highly among NBA front offices for his rare combination of athletic ability and tireless on-court work ethic.
His numbers are solid, with averages of 13.2 points and 8.2 rebounds in just 26.6 minutes per game this season. But it’s the intangibles he brings that will help him earn a big payday when signing his next contract.
Denver can offer Faried an extension this summer, and almost all players on rookie scale deals like to get that locked up as soon as possible. It’s their first chance at getting guaranteed money that can set themselves up financially for the future, and as long as the offer is reasonable, it’s likely that Faried will want to get that in place.
But the Nuggets began exploring trade options for Faried at the most recent deadline, so despite his value to his current team, he’s not feeling too secure just yet.
From Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post:Faried said he’s not worried about any of that. But he’s also not sure if he’ll be around at the start of next season.
“I don’t know, honestly,” Faried said. “I just don’t know. It’s the NBA. You can’t be too secure anywhere. I thought Nene was going to be a Nugget for the rest of his life, and he just got traded out of nowhere. That was the first big trade I ever saw in my life, and it baffled me because he was a great player here and he was here a long time. He finally bought his house out here and the next thing you know he was gone. You can never be too secure.”
Faried may not feel secure in Denver, but his NBA future is assured.
In the unlikely event that a contract extension isn’t agreed upon this summer, Faried will be set up for a huge contract the season after next, when he will be a restricted free agent.
Denver could wait to see what Faried’s value on the open market might be by then and simply match any offer he receives, but that’s a dangerous way to go given the way Faried is held in such high regard around the league. A safer route to take would involve getting an extension in place this summer, but we’ll just have to wait and see how the Nuggets choose to let things play out.
