The Denver Nuggets will need to look for a new center since Nene will opt out of the final year of his contract, according to a report by the Denver Post's Chris Dempsey. This has been expected for months now, though we won't officially know until June 30, the final day he can escape from his ~$12 million player option. When he does that, Nene will become an unrestricted free agent.

But as Dempsey reminds us, that won't happen until the NBA and the players overcome an expected lockout--and by all indications it could be a long, long time until that happens. 

The Nuggets will need to replace the 14.5 points (a career-high) and 7.6 rebounds he averaged over the 2010-11 season. Would the Nuggets start Chris Andersen there? How about Timofey Mozgov, acquired as part of the Carmelo Anthony deal with the New York Knicks? That's something the Denver Post's Mark Kiszla has projected, for what it's worth. But Kiszla also has Nene still on the team as the power forward.

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