New Details Emerge About Jalen Pickett’s Future With Nuggets

Headed into this offseason, the Denver Nuggets will be looking to save money around the edges of their roster wherever possible.

With the bill of their roster continuing to increase next season with hefty contracts to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, along with extensions kicking in for both Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, this Nuggets front office has work to do not only to remain under the luxury tax, but also to facilitate an upgraded roster to compete in the West next season while doing so.

Therefore, to round out this roster for next season throughout the summer, the Nuggets will be searching for cheap, productive names to fil into the back-end of their 15-man group wherever they can find them.

And one of those names to fill out their 15-man roster on an affordable deal might happen to be on their roster from this past season already: that's third-year guard Jalen Pickett, who appears to be trending towards a return to Denver for 2026.

The Denver Post's Bennett Durando recently gave some intel on Pickett's pending team option with the Nuggets heading into this summer, crediting his $2 million deal as an "easy" way to save money on the books.

"Another easy penny-pinching move is to pick up Jalen Pickett’s fourth-year team option. His $2.41 million salary is about $40,000 cheaper than the projected veteran minimum cap hit. Cha-ching."Bennett Durando, The Denver Post

It might not be exactly a foregone conclusion that Pickett's back on the Nuggets' roster come next season, but the situation is starting to feel more and more like he'll be headed towards a return to Denver for the 2026-27 season.

And the reasoning is simple: Pickett is on a discounted deal from any veteran they could add to the free agent market, and he's still only 26 years old with the chance of being a serviceable rotational player for Denver next season.

Jalen Pickett Trending Towards Return to Nuggets in 2026

This past season, his numbers might've not jumped off the page, but they were better than anything he's seen in his career with the Nuggets thus far––averaging 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists a night, also shooting relatively efficient splits of 42.2% from the field and 39.6% from three.

Even if Pickett doesn't wind up cracking a consistent role in the Nuggets' rotation next season, there's still value to be had in the contract he's signed to that makes accepting his option the right decision for Denver, if their primary focus is to save money against the cap.