The financial reality of the new second apron world in the NBA has already begun to handicap some teams, although the Denver Nuggets’ previous mistakes are now coming back to haunt them.

The headliner this summer is going to be the loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic, as a three-year, $66 million deal was enough to convince him to leave Denver after two highly-successful seasons.

With Denver projected to cross the second apron with a new contract for Caldwell-Pope, there didn’t appear to be any real competitive offer to try and get their starting shooting guard to stay.

The money was technically there, although general manager Calvin Booth had already spent it on Zeke Nnaji and Reggie Jackson last summer.

Giving Nnaji a four-year, $32 million extension and Jackson a new two-year, $10.3 million deal with a player option were terrible moves at the time and severely impacted the Nuggets offseason now. That’s $14.2 million in salary that could have been put towards re-signing Caldwell-Pope this summer. Instead, the veteran guard has left for nothing in return while the Nuggets sent three second-round picks to the Charlotte Hornets just to get out of Jackson’s contract.

There’s still been no contract extension for Jamal Murray, who can sign a max deal for up to $208 million over four years. Other extension-eligible veterans like Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Brunson, Bam Adebayo and Derrick White were already completed before players reported to their Olympic teams, which makes it strange that Murray didn’t sign his.

In what looked like a potential dynasty, the Nuggets’ poor spending choices have already begun to erode away the core of this team.

Denver should still be considered a championship contender next season, although this team is already far worse from the one we saw hoist a trophy just a short 13 months ago.