The Nuggets are facing a lot of problems this offseason with roster building, but we’ve become so used to one of the biggest ones that we barely even mention it anymore: Zeke Nnaji’s contract. For years, the brutal and inexplicable 4-year, $32 million extension that Calvin Booth handed him has been weighing the team down like an anchor, and sadly, it’s not going away any time soon.

Booth thought he was being clever by getting the extension done a year early, thinking he was getting great value on a player who would be a helpful stretch-big for years. But Nnaji immediately fell off a cliff, and the contract quickly became disastrous long before it ever even went into effect.

Nuggets completely botched the Zeke Nnaji contract

He has been unplayable and out of the rotation, and thus, completely untradeable, and the pathetic reality is that nothing about that situation has changed. Unbelievably, Nnaji still has next season fully guaranteed at $7.47 million, and a player option for the same amount the following season.

That’s basically two years and $15 million for a player who doesn’t play. The Nuggets’ front office and coaching staff were never on the same page, and his value has been completely sapped. They desperately need to shed salary, and his deal is a clear albatross, and yet, to do so, they’d almost certainly have to sacrifice draft capital or a rotation player.

It’s pitiful to think they are wasting a roster spot and a salary greater than the taxpayer’s midlevel exception on a 25-year-old who can’t even sniff the court, but that’s exactly where things stand.

The fact that the Nuggets can’t even convince a young, rebuilding team to take a flier on Nnaji is a massive indictment on the organization. Denver needs to free up money badly to keep Peyton Watson and make other moves, and the Nnaji deal is a clear and obvious roadblock. They are probably going to have to salary dump a starter like Cam Johnson or Christian Braun to accomplish their offseason goals, and that’s partly due to Nnaji’s deal.

Nuggets must pay to get off Nnaji deal

That’s brutally bad asset management, but instead of dwelling on the past, the Nuggets should be forward-thinking. They are going to have to trade away a good player anyway, so perhaps instead of seeking a positive return, they should look to dump Nnaji in the deal. It may be the best (and perhaps only) way to move him, after all.

Someone like Johnson should have positive trade value and has appeal for many contending teams. As great as it would be to get back a decent player or some draft picks to refurbish the kitty, it may actually be more valuable for Denver to force that team to take Nnaji as well.

Again, this is a pathetic thought to even be having, but that’s where things stand in Denver. With ownership unwilling to splurge on the roster, and Nnaji’s contract sticking out like a sore thumb, the Nuggets may just have to bite the proverbial bullet and be done with it.

Trammell Crow Company and PCCP inked a massive lease deal for a suburban Denver industrial complex that just began construction. 

The development giants landed an undisclosed tenant for a full building at Crossroads 25, a 76-acre industrial complex in Thornton set to encompass roughly 1.1 million square feet once complete, the Denver Business Journal reported. 

At nearly 410,000 square feet, the deal marks the largest industrial lease in the Denver area since 2024. 

Trammell Crow and PCCP purchased the land, at the northeast corner of Interstate 25 and E-470, from an affiliate of Omaha, Nebraska-based Noddle Companies for $18.9 million. Noddle purchased it in 2020 as part of a nearly 200-acre land acquisition for $19.5 million. 

The development will eventually span 1.1 million square feet of industrial space. The first phase consists of 828,000 square feet across four buildings. The recent lease brings the four-building phase one to 49 percent leased.

CBRE’s Tyler Carner represented Noddle in the land sale. 

The Denver metro’s industrial market had a direct vacancy rate of 9.3 percent in the first quarter, according to JLL. More than 4 million square feet was under construction, and absorption was negative after hefty completions last year.

The first four buildings in Crossroads 25 are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of next year. The complex is projected to be fully complete in 2030. 

The previous industrial lease record in the Denver metro area was held by Georgia-based third-party logistics company BroadRange Logistics, which signed a long-term lease for more than 1.1 million square feet at the 76 Commerce Center industrial complex in Brighton. That property’s landlord, Hyde Development, filed suit against BroadRange last week, claiming the logistics firm defaulted on its leases, and Hyde is seeking more than $32 million in damages. 

— Chris Malone Méndez

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