The Denver Nuggets were dead in the water, captained by a general manager who initially forgot the rules of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
On October 5th, 2014, Tim Connelly helped orchestrate the extension of power forward Kenneth Faried for five years, $60 million, a major move for the franchise after seeing Andre Iguodala leave in free agency. There was just one problem: the Nuggets weren’t allowed to give Faried a contract of that length and salary. Five year deals were saved for max contract stars, and many around the league were incredulous that the Nuggets would do something like that without making sure it was legal.