With the Nuggets’ summer league excursion to Las Vegas complete, team officials return to Denver to prepare for Friday, when NBA teams may start signing free agents.
Talk remains of using some or all of the team’s midlevel exception of about $5 million on external candidates such as the Los Angeles Clippers’ Marko Jaric or Seattle’s Ronald “Flip” Murray, both of whom are restricted.
But an internal candidate with an eye on the same money is shooting guard Greg Buckner.
“The ball is completely in their court,” Buckner’s agent, Steve Kauffman, said Saturday.
Kauffman said little has changed about Buckner’s feelings toward the Nuggets.
“His preference is to stay in Denver,” he said. “As I’ve said before, it’s just the way financial circumstances come down, mostly on the Nuggets’ part.”
As for Jaric, his agent remains hopeful his client can pay a visit to Denver’s facilities and meet with members of the front office.
Speaking on the possibility of Jaric making a trip here, agent Bill Duffy said, “I presented that to them, but I haven’t heard back yet.”
Duffy predicted he would not know about a visit before Monday.
Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe declined comment on Jaric on Saturday but said the team has set up no visits.
Skita stands out
Former Nuggets forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili has surfaced on Minnesota’s summer league team. In a game Friday against Milwaukee, Tskitishvili scored 25 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
“That’s the best I’ve seen Skita play,” Bucks coach Terry Stotts, an assistant at Golden State last season while Tskitishvili was there, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
