Bruce Brown Says He Wants to Stay With Nuggets: ‘Money is Not Everything’

Shooting guard Bruce Brown was truly an underrated contributor during the Nuggets’ playoff run, coming off the bench, offering energy and some timely baskets.

Now, he has the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent.

There are those out there who have said the Nuggets likely won’t be able to afford to keep him. But Brown, for one, has made it sound like a possibility.

“I want to stay,” Brown told Mike Singer of the Denver Post. “… It’s a perfect fit. And money is not everything. The money will come. So I’m not worried about that right now.”

Brown signed a two-year contract with the Nuggets last summer. He holds a $6.8 million player option for next season — and if he declines it, the Nuggets could only offer him about a million more, via Brown’s Non-Bird rights.

He could potentially receive $12.2 million next season if Denver were to throw in its full mid-level exception, but its doubtful the Nuggets will have access to it, since they are expected to be over the luxury tax line.

Other teams could potentially offer him more than that, too.

Brown, 26, is 6-foot-4 and played everywhere from point guard to small forward, averaging a career-high 11.5 points in 80 regular-season appearances. He averaged 1.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 20 playoff games.

“Bruce has been huge for us all playoffs,” Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. told reporters. “We’re excited for him because he’s going to get paid. He’s going to get paid. … We just kept telling him be aggressive, even though his first half didn’t go amazing making shots-wise. He hit that big bucket down the stretch, made those two free throws. He was amazing for us all playoffs. It wasn’t just (Game 5 of the Finals).”

Brown could always opt out and sign another one-plus-one contract, receiving $7.8 million then become a free agent next summer. From the sounds of things, that could be a real option.

The Nuggets finished 16-4 in the playoffs and Brown seems as if he’s open to trying it all again.