Jones turned down Denver's opening offer last season, and the gamble is about to pay off.
Spencer Jones took the long way to the NBA.
He went undrafted out of Stanford in 2024, signed a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets, and spent his first extended stretch in the league splitting time between Denver and the G League.
Most players in that position grab the first real security that comes their way, but Jones did the opposite.
Midway through this past season, while he was still playing on his two-way deal and had not yet used up his 50 game allowance for the year, Denver offered him a multi-year contract worth close to two million dollars a year in guaranteed money.
He turned it down.
How the Bet Paid Off
Jones laid out the full story in a LinkedIn post that Nuggets reporter Harrison Wind flagged this week, and the numbers explain why he was willing to take the risk.
He signed only for the rest of the season and let his play set the price instead, finishing the year averaging 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds while starting 37 of his 64 appearances and shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Those numbers climbed even higher in the playoffs, including a 20 point outburst in Game 5 of Denver's first round series against Minnesota.
Jones wrote that the deal he is finalizing now is worth "more than double" what Denver first offered, adding that the real lesson was never to "simply bet on" himself blindly, but to know when the moment was actually right to do it.
Should He Return to Denver
Whether that happens in Denver is a fair question given how tight the team's offseason has become.
The Nuggets finished the regular season at 54-28 and grabbed the third seed in the West, but that run ended in disappointment once Minnesota eliminated them in six games in the first round.
Denver is also staring at a massive extension for Nikola Jokic that could pay him up to 278 million dollars over four years, plus a new contract for fellow restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who posted 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in his own breakout season and is in line for a much bigger raise.
Add in a payroll already sitting above 200 million dollars for just ten filled roster spots, and paying Jones what he now wants will not be simple.
Still, he fits the type of budget the Nuggets actually need, a productive piece who costs far less than Watson or Jokic while filling a real role next to them.
Rival teams with real cap space could still make a push, but a wing who defends and shoots close to 40 percent from three without needing a max salary makes sense for a team already over the tax line.
Free agency opened for official signings on July 6, and both sides now have to decide whether the fit already in place in Denver is worth locking in at Jones's new price.
