Nuggets trade Reggie Jackson, 3 second-round picks to Charlotte Hornets, source says

Reggie Jackson (7) of the Denver Nuggets takes a breather against the Minnesota Timberwolvesduring the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

The Nuggets traded backup point guard Reggie Jackson and three future second-round draft picks to the Charlotte Hornets for cash considerations Thursday in a maneuver that provides Denver salary cap relief before NBA free agency, a league source told The Denver Post.

Denver sent out its 2025, 2029 and 2030 second-round picks in the trade.

Earlier this week, Jackson picked up a $5.25 million player option to return for the 2024-25 season. The Nuggets originally signed him in February 2023 after Jackson reached a contract buyout with Charlotte, where he had just been traded from the Clippers. The Nuggets then re-signed Jackson on a two-year deal last summer.

After trading three other second-rounders to Phoenix on Wednesday in order to move up in the first round of the 2024 draft for DaRon Holmes II, Denver’s only remaining future draft pick available to trade is a 2031 first-round pick.

Jackson, 34, played in every regular-season and playoff game in 2023-24, averaging 10.2 points and 3.8 assists. He shot 43.1% from the field and 35.9% from three, efficiencies that plummeted after an exceptional first two months of the season when Jamal Murray was injured. Before his struggles and ultimately limited playoff minutes, Jackson’s finest moment in a Nuggets uniform came last November, when he and DeAndre Jordan led a short-handed squad to an unlikely win at the Clippers. Jackson registered 35 points and 13 assists in the win while Nikola Jokic and Murray were both out.

The Palmer High School alum won his first career NBA championship as a reserve for his hometown team in 2023. He has been in the league for 13 years, appearing in games for four teams.

Factoring in the trade of Jackson, the addition of Holmes with the 22nd pick, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s opt-out and the likely one-year minimum contract incoming for Vlatko Cancar, the Nuggets will have 12 roster spots filled at a payroll of around $172 million.

That’s narrowly above the luxury tax line for 2024-25, placing Denver below the first tax apron and about $18 million below the second apron with free agency looming. The trade of Jackson in particular will provide some flexibility for Denver’s attempt at re-signing Caldwell-Pope, but perhaps more notably, it also supplies more cap space to sign other players if the Nuggets lose KCP.