Sean Keeler: For Bruce Brown, love (the Nuggets’ budding dynasty, Nugg Life, getting blackout drunk with Nikola Jokic) and money (bag, moolah, scratch) don’t necessarily have to be a binary deal. Remember the saga of Bobby Portis two years ago? Found his niche after signing an I’ll-show-you free agent deal in Milwaukee, became a legend off the bench and a civic hero in helping a flyover town snatch an NBA title. Sound familiar? Brown’s followed almost the same script to the letter in ’22-23, only we’ve come to the first big (contract) fork in the road. Portis wound up declining his player option in the summer of ’21 — as Brown could do this week — but then turned around and inked a below-market two-year deal with a 1-year opt-out in Milwaukee so the Bucks would have his Early Bird Rights.
Keeler vs. Singer: Will Bruce Brown give Denver Nuggets the hometown discount?
