One Veteran Free Agent the Nuggets Must Sign After the NBA Draft

With the 2026 NBA Draft officially in the books for the Denver Nuggets, the focus now turns toward what could be in store for free agency that'll get rolling at the start of July.

For the Nuggets, their primary focus will be centered on retaining a couple of key restricted free agents–– Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones–– both of which seem to be on the table to so long as the front office can clear their desired cap hurdles of avoiding the second apron and a huge luxury tax bill.

But the Nuggets' work won't stop at just bringing back those two guys. They'll also be looking around the market for budget options to fill out their bench because of the cap crunch that'll likely be in effect after Watson and Jones strike their next deals.

So who should the Nuggets have their eyes on?

One name that could make a great deal of sense is a veteran who's fresh off an NBA championship with the New York Knicks, and could be hungry to join a team with title aspirations, even if not in the Big Apple: that's former Sixth Man of the Year, Jordan Clarkson.

The Case for Jordan Clarkson to Sign With the Nuggets

When looking at how the Nuggets' roster could shift rolling into free agency, there's a good chance that their primary bench scorer, Tim Hardaway Jr., could be trending towards an exit after one year in the Mile High.

Hardaway Jr. is due for a pay raise, the Nuggets are due for some cost-cutting measures, and those two factors don't tend to align with one another pretty well. So that puts Denver in line to search for some affordable, veteran bench scoring to try and help fill that void.

Clarkson, while not the sharpshooter that Hardaway Jr. is, does tend to offer some of that scoring spark in the second unit.

Even while in his 12th year in the league, Clarkson was someone the Knicks relied on for 17 minutes a game in the regular season, and led to him putting together a solid 8.6 points per night on some of his best shooting from the field in recent memory (45.1%).

Jun 10, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson (00) controls the ball against the San Antonio Spurs in the second quarter during game four of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

So he's still worth a look as someone in the backcourt that can provide some solid value to the back-end of a rotation. Defensively, you're never going to get true two-way impact out of Clarkson, and his shots from three have been streaky throughout his career.

But he's a spark plug scorer that can create his own shot from inside the arc, and is certainly capable of having multiple hot hand moments throughout any given season that reminds you of why he won Sixth Man of the Year back in 2021.

This summer, he feels likely to command a veteran minimum as he did once signing onto the Knicks last offseason, which is right within the Nuggets' ballpark for guys they could have their eyes on to fill out their bench.

Bottom Line

Perhaps the Knicks, who are looking to avoid the second apron themselves, could have interest in bringing back Clarkson as a cheap option themselves. He himself might not want to leave this championship core either, so a return to New York is far from out of the cards.

If Clarkson is indeed searching for a change of scenery, though, he tends to make sense for Denver to keep an eye on for a short-term deal to help alleviate the loss of Hardaway Jr.

And having just reached the mountain top of an NBA championship a couple of weeks ago, he knows more than many that are up for grabs on the open market about what it takes to make it there in the first place.

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