One of the more surprising free agent pickups during the 2022 offseason was Bruce Brown heading to the Denver Nuggets at what appeared to be a discount. Brown, a standout Swiss Army knife for the Brooklyn Nets, put pen to paper on a 2-year deal worth about $13 million that included a player option to let him re-enter unrestricted free agency in 2023.
A whole lot happened in that year, including Brown becoming an important piece for the Nuggets as the team won an NBA championship for the first time in franchise history. Unsurprisingly, Brown is prepared to parlay that success into a bigger payday, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that he plans to decline his player option. While he will surely attract interest from all around the league, Charania notes that a return to Denver is not off the table.
Denver Nuggets G/F Bruce Brown Jr. is declining his $6.8 million player option for the 2023-24 season and will become a free agent, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Brown, a key member of the Nuggets title, faces decision of Denver return in free agency versus deal elsewhere.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 21, 2023
While Brown only started 31 games for Denver last year, he appeared in 80 regular season contests and played a role off the bench in every game the team played during the postseason. During the regular season, Brown averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks in 28.5 minutes per game while connecting on 48.3 percent of his shots from the field and 35.8 percent of his attempts from behind the three-point line.