Veteran guard Miller waived

The Nuggets have waived veteran Mike Miller, the team announced Tuesday.

The 37-year-old guard spent the past two seasons with the Nuggets, averaging 7.8 minutes and 1.4 points over 67 combined games.

Miller, the 2001 NBA rookie of the year and a two-time league champion with the Miami Heat, had a $3.5 million contract that would have become fully guaranteed Wednesday. That would have been the third year on a deal Miller signed with the Nuggets in 2014.

Miller’s biggest contribution came in his mentoring of the team’s young players. He was especially close with center Nikola Jokic, playing one-on-one contests with the 6-foot-10 Serbian before nearly every game.

Even last week, after a Nuggets summer league game in Las Vegas, Miller pulled aside rookie Tyler Lydon, offering him advice and telling him to reach out if he ever needed any help.

The waiving of the 6-8 Miller makes him an unrestricted free agent, and the veteran has said he’s still interested in playing. The Nuggets could potentially bring him back, perhaps at a veteran minimum contract, but other teams will also have the opportunity to sign him.

Miller, who grew up in Mitchell, S.D., was a standout guard at Florida, which he led to the NCAA championship game in 2000. He has been a solid scorer off the bench for most of his professional career, being named sixth man of the year while playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. He has averaged 10.6 points while shooting 40.7 percent from 3-point range during his 17-season career.