The partnership between Dario Saric and the Denver Nuggets hasn’t gone as planned for either side.

The Croatian big man chose Denver over reigning EuroLeague champion Panathinaikos last July in free agency, jumping at the opportunity to contribute to an NBA title contender with two other Balkan players in the locker room, including star center Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets were confident they had solved a never-ending existential crisis in their rotation by adding a versatile big who could back up Jokic or play the four alongside him.

They signed Saric to a two-year, $10.6 million contract with a player option on the second season, using their precious taxpayer mid-level exception.

Saric has appeared in only 16 games. He has eclipsed 10 minutes in only nine of them. Even this Wednesday, when more than half of Denver’s 15-man roster was out, he played only seven minutes in a rotation that included multiple contributors on two-way deals.

That player option deadline — June 29 — is creeping over the horizon.

For a franchise facing punitive roster-building constraints, the contract has come to symbolize general manager Calvin Booth’s razor-thin margin for error. Saric is $5.2 million in salary buried at the end of the bench as the Nuggets survey their roster for possible playoff depth. He is penciled in as the team’s sixth-highest salary for 2025-26, too.