It didn’t take long for the Nuggets to take care of a small but important piece of business after landing in Los Angeles.

Denver’s front office and forward Spencer Jones agreed to convert his two-way contract into a minimum deal for the rest of the season, making the 24-year-old forward eligible for the rest of the regular season and playoffs, on Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s a conversation that we’re going to have when we land in LA. There’s a lot of moving pieces there,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said of Jones’ situation before the team left Denver on Wednesday morning. “Obviously, what Spencer has done for us this year has been beyond a small impact. The guy has started a million games for us. He’s guarding some of the best players in the league. He’s a big part of what we’ve done.”

The deal did not get done before Denver departed for Thursday’s game against the Clippers, but Jones is expected to be available for the Nuggets’ first game after the All-Star break. He will likely be one of the primary defenders on Kawhi Leonard now that he’s eligible.

Jones played in 46 of Denver’s 55 games before the break, starting 34 of them. He averaged six points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 50.5% from the field and 41.4% from 3-point range. He will be a restricted free agent this summer. After converting the former Stanford Cardinal, the Nuggets still have one standard roster spot.

Converting Jones to a standard contract opened a two-way spot, and Denver has plans to sign former Colorado guard KJ Simpson to a two-way spot for the rest of the season, according to an ESPN report.

Simpson was drafted by the Hornets in the second round of the 2024 draft and played in 50 games for Charlotte the last two seasons, starting 17 of those contests. He averaged six points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 14 games this season before he was waived earlier this month.