After serious discussions the past 48 hours, Anthony Carter and his management team decided the guard will re-join the Nuggets next season, signing for a league minimum of about $1.2 million.
“I’m just going to try to build off last year,” said the free agent Carter, who started at point guard and notched career-highs with 7.8 points per game and 5.5 assists.
“I’ve got to give credit where credit’s due, and by me getting minutes, and having the two of the top scorers in the league helped me a whole lot. Now it’s about taking the next step in the playoffs.”
Though Carter and his people had said he wanted to be with Denver next season, they all wanted to wait to see if another team would bite and offer a multi-year deal.
By late Tuesday, that hadn’t happened. So Carter agreed to return to Denver, where he had his best NBA season in 2007-08.
“That’s what (agent) Bill Duffy is for,” Carter said. “He’s got to do his job, and that’s the way he gets paid. I guess there wasn’t anything out there good enough … and we had to look at the big picture, and I thought Denver was a great place because I know we have a great chance of making the playoffs.”
Carter, who turned 33 last month, said he is pleased to return to the Nuggets. And with the contract, he now plans on moving his family from San Antonio and buying a house in the Denver area.
“I’m very comfortable (in Denver),” Carter said on Wednesday, the opening day of the NBA’s off-season free-agent period.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
