Report: Darrell Arthur Exercises $7.4M Contract Option with Nuggets

Power forward Darrell Arthur reportedly exercised the $7.4 million option in his contract to remain with the Denver Nuggets for the 2018-19 season, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Arthur has spent the past five seasons with the Nuggets, but he appeared in only 19 games in 2017-18 due to a combination of knee injuries and coaching decisions.

Aside from the 2011-12 season—which Arthur missed in its entirety due to an Achilles injury—the 19 games Arthur played in last season were a career low.

He also struggled through the least-productive campaign of his career with averages of 2.8 points and 0.8 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game.

The 30-year-old veteran entered the NBA as the No. 27 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft out of Kansas by the New Orleans Hornets.

He was immediately traded to the Portland Trail Blazers and then the Memphis Grizzlies with whom he spent the first five years of his career.

Arthur's best season was with the Grizz in 2010-11 when he shot a career-best 49.7 percent from the field, while averaging 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds.

While Arthur was a strong bench contributor for the Nuggets in 2015-16 with 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in 70 contests, he has appeared in a total of only 60 games over the past two years.

In 503 career regular-season games (including 106 starts), Arthur is averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. He also appeared in 28 playoff games for the Grizzlies between the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.

There isn't a clear path for Arthur in terms of playing time in 2018-19, as he is behind the likes of Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, Kenneth Faried, Trey Lyles, Juan Hernangomez and Mason Plumlee in the frontcourt rotation.

Unless some roster moves are made, Arthur may spend much of the 2018-19 campaign in a suit rather than a Nuggets uniform.