Safe to say, this Denver Nuggets season is not going according to plan.
Sitting sixth in the West at 13-10 entering play on Sunday, Denver hasn’t won more than two in a row in over a month and look short of being true title contenders. Most recently, Nikola Jokic dropping 56 points, 16 rebounds, and eight assists wasn’t enough to prevent a loss to the league-worst Wizards. Bear in mind, Washington had lost 16 straight games entering that contest.
Jokic is having another monstrous season, second in the league in points at 31.5 per game, second in rebounds at 13.3, and second in assists at 9.8. Yet, it seems to be one that may get lost in history because Jamal Murray doesn’t seem to have the same bounce to his step, the youth that Denver has tried to bring along in Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther are still marinating, making the losses of Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope over the last two summers all the more glaring.
As a result, the latest from NBA insider Marc Stein’s Substack The Stein Line revealed that Denver is “determined to make changes to a roster that has provided little support for a better-than-ever Nikola Jokic.”
There were no details provided on who the Nuggets might target, except that indicate the pathway is limited.
Jamal Murray is ineligible for a trade before the Feb. 6 deadline because of the extension he signed in September, and the same applies to Aaron Gordon. Michael Porter Jr. could be an enticing piece but the Nuggets are already dead-last in 3-point attempt frequency and so would have to be mindful of taking a further hit in that area depending on who comes in to replace him.
Porter Jr. is averaging 18.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting a career-low 38.3% from three in 23 games (excluding the 2021-22 season where he only played nine games).
Depth being a major issue for Denver, it may make sense to see if Porter Jr. can garner multiple quality role players in return who can defend better while also expanding the 3-point threats on the roster even if none of them provide as singular a threat as Porter Jr. from the outside.
Speaking on The Athletic NBA Daily podcast, Nuggets beat reporter for DNVR Sports Adam Mares suggested a trade with the Hawks that would involve sending Porter Jr. and salary filler to Atlanta with Bogdan Bogdanovic and possibly De’Andre Hunter coming back the other way.
That would at least theoretically increase Denver’s depth both in terms of rotation options and scoring, as well as the playmaking. Bogdanovic obviously has a lot of experience playing with Jokic for Team Serbia.
Atlanta would gain a still young and talented wing with plenty of playoff experience. Porter Jr. and Trae Young were AAU teammates as well as very close friends.
One way or the other, it seems the Nuggets will have to make some sort of change before the deadline to increase its championship odds.
