Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton has agreed to a four-year deal worth more than $50 million to stay with the Denver Nuggets, according to ESPN's Chris B. Haynes. This will keep the 27-year-old under contract through the 2021-22 season. 

Barton is approaching his prime and coming off the best season of his career. He averaged a career-high 15.7 points in 33.1 minutes in 2017-18, starting in 40 games and proving he can be more than a sparkplug scorer off the bench. He is a creative playmaker who plays better defense than others of his ilk, and this deal represents fair value in this team-friendly free-agent market. Had he been available in a different year, he probably would have made much more.

Had Barton looked for a better contract elsewhere, it's unclear that he would have found one. There are hardly any teams with significant salary-cap space, meaning that the $8.6 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception might have been the best deal he could  have found. In this context, it makes sense that he sorted things out with Denver so quickly. 

The Nuggets now find themselves in a precarious position, financially. This is an up-and-coming team, but one that (barely) missed the playoffs last season. Generally, teams like this don't want to be huge luxury taxpayers. With this deal and the reported five-year, $148 million contract they've agreed to with Nikola Jokic, though, they are going to have to find creative ways to shed salary in order to avoid that. It is generally assumed that Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur and Wilson Chandler are extremely available.

Barton could wind up setting the tone for other second-tier free agents. With such a limited market, re-signing is a more-appealing-than-usual option this season.