Kenyon Martin, as expected, did not opt out of his contract for the 10-11 season.

Martin is due $16.55M for the 10-11 season.

Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups has two years remaining on his contract and says that he wants to retire with the team.

Billups will earn $13.15 next season and $14.2 million in 2011-12, but Denver will only be on the hook for $3.7 million if they waive him before June 20, 2011.

He will turn 34 in September.

"I'm not really playing with that," Billups said when asked whether he's looking at next season as playing for a contract. "I won't do that. That creates all kinds of other things. I'm just going to play and do what I do. However the chips fall they may."

Billups is a native of Denver.

"I want to be a Nugget until I'm done playing," Billups said. "There's no question about it. Just play ball, and let it happen (whatever might transpire with his contract). I'm not going to worry about all of that."

Despite discussing a contract extension with Carmelo Anthony, sources close to the situation indicate the Nuggets would rather trade him than risk losing him in free agency for nothing.

The Nuggets are attempting to be proactive by securing Anthony to an extension this summer. He will become a free agent on July 1, 2011 if he doesn't sign an extension.

Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin underwent left knee surgery this summer and a league source says, "I don't think he'll be ready for training camp."

Martin's rehab will determine when he'll be able to return, most likely in the early months of the 2010-11 season.

He is entering the last year of his contract, which will pay him $16.5 million.

Phil Jackson says that Nuggets coach George Karl's struggles with cancer last season will influence his decision on whether or not he'll return to the Lakers.

Jackson was the headline speaker Sunday at a meeting of Western governors in Montana.

He told reporters after his speech that he's waiting to hear from doctors on whether he's healthy enough to make it through another season.

The Nuggets have offered forward Carmelo Anthony a contract extension worth $65 million, according to NBA sources.

It was reported on Wednesday that Denver and Anthony could come to terms on an extension prior to Thursday night's NBA Draft.

Anthony will have to consider the NBA's uncertain future. It's possible that maximum contracts will be decreased under a new collective bargaining agreement.

The Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony are making significant progress on a contract extension that would result in Anthony landing a new contract this offseason, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions.

A three-year max extension worth more than $60 million could be announced within days of Thursday's draft, sources said. Another source estimated the timetable at "a couple of weeks."

If Anthony chose to wait on an extension to explore free agency, he would become the prime face of the 2011 summer.

Sources say some within Anthony's camp would prefer to keep pressure on the Nuggets to continue to improve, but getting a more favorable contract under the current CBA is an incentive.

The Nuggets extended a qualifying offer to forward Linas Kleiza on Monday, but his agent says he'll remain in Greece.

Denver owns Kleiza's NBA rights.

"We have no plans to sign with the Nuggets, nor have they expressed interest in signing Linas at this point," agent Bill Duffy said.

Kleiza left the Nuggets a year ago to play for Olympiakos, for whom he signed a two-year, $12.2 million contract.

The Denver Nuggets have made a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Linas Kleiza, Nuggets Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Per team policy, terms of the offer were not released.

Kleiza, 6-8, 245, averaged 8.3 ppg and 3.5 rpg in 301 games with the Nuggets in four seasons (2005-2009) with the team since being acquired in a draft-night trade with Portland on June 28, 2005. During the 2008-09 season, his most recent season with the Nuggets, he posted averages of 9.9 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 22.2 mpg.

Nuggets coach George Karl's health is steadily improving and he attended the team's pre-draft workouts on Monday.

Karl said that he fully expects to be on the bench coaching Denver next season.

He has been battling throat and neck cancer and added that he feels "a little better" with each passing week.