It’s never any less frustrating.
There has been a common theme with every big NBA trade we’ve already seen in the last few days: draft picks get deals done. Even a late first-round pick or seconds can grease the wheels and push these deals over the finish line, and the Nuggets have the worst collection of picks in the league, destroying their ability to get anything done.
The Hawks needed a center, and they were able to add KP by dishing out the 22nd pick in the draft, the Celtics got their much needed financial relief while acquiring a 2nd rounder and sending out another, and the Nets gained a first rounder in exchange for a 2nd and absorbing Terrance Mann’s salary.
I’m not suggesting that the Nuggets would, or should want to do any of the maneuvers in this three-team trade, but the point is that even if they wanted to, they couldn’t. The Nuggets have no tradeable draft picks for the rest of this decade, and can only trade a single first and swaps out to 2032.
The draft capital situation is dire right now in Denver, and it’s a huge reason that they haven’t been able to get involved in any deals, even going back to last offseason when the team’s last three 2nd-round picks were offloaded in order to move up a few spots in the draft.
Nuggets need to find a way to re-stock their assets
If the Nuggets actually had any assets to throw in, they would be able to move their bad contracts like Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric, and start to rebuild the team on the margins. In that case, they could possibly even bring back some helpful rotation players.
But that’s not possible unless the Nuggets find a way to gain back some draft capital. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s what the new front office duo of Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace is tasked with. They need to identify which players are part of the core going forward and build out the roster accordingly.
Maybe that means dumping Michael Porter Jr. to anyone who will throw some picks back. Maybe it means selling high on Christian Braun before signing him to a big extension. Maybe it means identifying who, amongst Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, and DaRon Holmes, isn’t part of the future and getting back what you can.
Or maybe it even means something more drastic, like trading Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon and making a seismic shake-up to the team’s core. Anything is in play, but something has to be done. The Nuggets can’t sit on their hands all summer while everyone else improves.
