AROUND the NBA:

[F Gump]

Um...Ok what?  Weird thing for the owner of the Nuggets to bring up.

https://streamable.com/ptwe7y

Easily explainable (and rational) -- I would wager he didn't bring it up himself. Instead, it looks like he's holding a pre-draft presser on the state of the team, and gets asked about the Nugs willingness (or concern) over their payroll. This next season they will be subject to repeater tax penalties. He may have also been asked how they view going past the aprons (with the various restrictions and penalties for doing so).

His reply made sense - which is, their concern is to keep from painting themselves in a corner where it might cost them Jokic somehow. Such a scenario is way not likely to happen, but that's also an honest bottom line on where they WON'T let their spending take them.

They are in the 203M range when they fill in the last 3 slots with minimums. Should have room for TxMLE if they wish, and still stay below A2 of 207.8m, but the question of how concerned they are in the range they're in is a legit one. Their tax at 203M would be about 45M.