Wilson Chandler Reportedly Plans to Exercise $12.8M Contract Option with Nuggets

Denver Nuggets small forward Wilson Chandler has reportedly decided to exercise the $12.8 million player option in his contract for the 2018-19 NBA season.

ESPN's Chris Haynes reported the news Friday.

Chandler is coming off a 2017-18 season where he averaged 10 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 44.5 percent from the field, including 35.8 percent from three-point range. Aside from a slight scoring dip, those stats are pretty much right in line with his career numbers.

The 30-year-old Michigan native spent most of the season at small forward, but he told Brendan Vogt of Mile High Sports in February he preferred to play power forward.

"It's the position that I came in playing when I started under Mike D'Antoni and George Karl. It's a familiarity thing," Chandler said. "That's the position where I'm most comfortable, but the way this team is built, we've got a lot of bigs."

Those comments came one year after Sam Amick of USA Today reported Chandler expressed interest in a potential trade ahead of the 2017 deadline because of "inconsistency with his role."

The DePaul product started his career with the New York Knicks, who selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, before joining the Nuggets in a 2011 trade.

Ultimately, the frontcourt situation in Denver makes his decision to stay a surprise. The continued presence of Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, Trey Lyles and Kenneth Faried means his playing time is likely to remain exclusively at the 3 next season.

Chandler should stick in the starting lineup and play a lot of minutes, however, which should give him an opportunity to bolster his stock before potentially hitting the open market next summer.