Ryan Nembhard is joining the Denver Nuggets on a two-way contract, landing with a contender after a short, unsettled stretch that took him through three organizations in a matter of months, via ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Nembhard became an unrestricted free agent after the Charlotte Hornets waived him last week and he cleared waivers.
Denver’s interest was reported almost as soon as Charlotte decided to move on, and Nembhard was said to have drawn more than one two-way offer, so the Nuggets were competing for him rather than simply picking him up off the waiver wire.
His route to that waiver was a product of roster math. Earlier this offseason the Dallas Mavericks traded him to the Atlanta Hawks in the three-team deal centered on Luguentz Dort and Zaccharie Risacher.
Atlanta then sent him out again, packaging Nembhard with Buddy Hield and cash in the trade that brought veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the Hawks.
Charlotte, already crowded with players on guaranteed contracts, had little incentive to keep a second-year guard who had just arrived in that exchange, and he became expendable.
What he did in Dallas is the reason another team wanted him. Nembhard went undrafted a year ago and opened his career on a two-way contract with the Mavericks before earning a promotion to a standard deal.
He appeared in 60 games, started 27, and averaged 6.6 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes. He shot 41.5 percent from the field, 35.6 percent from three, and 80.6 percent from the free-throw line.
For an undrafted rookie, the assist rate and the volume of starts suggested a point guard who could organize a second unit without needing the ball to score.
Denver will waive KJ Simpson to open the two-way spot, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reported.
Simpson signed his two-way with the Nuggets in February after Charlotte selected him 42nd in the 2024 draft, signed him to a two-year two-way deal, and waived him after last season’s trade deadline.
He played 14 games with the Hornets and six more with Denver. Forwards Bryce Hopkins and Cam Whitmore remain the Nuggets’ other two-way players.
For Nembhard, the signing is less a step backward than a restart. A year ago he climbed off a two-way contract and into a real rotation.
Two trades and a waiver later, he is beginning that climb again in an organization that needed a young initiator badly enough to clear another point guard to make room.
How many of those minutes come in Denver, and how many come in the G League, will depend on the backcourt in front of him. The opportunity itself is already secured.
