The Nuggets have been on a broad number of available trade candidates ahead of this deadline and they’ve come up short on each and every pursuit. They lost out on Dorian Finney-Smith, they lost out on Nick Richards, they lost out on Jonas Valanciuans, and those are just the ones we know about.
Denver doesn’t have any picks or prospects to dangle in trades and it’s making all of their rumored “interest” pretty meaningless so far. Meanwhile, other teams around the conference are loading up and teams chasing the Nuggets in the standings are making moves to help themselves make a push this season.
The Nuggets have sniffed around all kinds of potential moves and they clearly need an upgrade to the roster. They’re being propped up by the greatness of Nikola Jokic, but the team around him is a bit of a house of cards, and they may not be on the level of true contenders without making some kind of improvement.
Cody Martin and Vasilije Micic traded to Suns
And on Thursday morning, another reported Nuggets trade target was dealt to a conference foe as the Suns acquired Cody Martin. Hoops Hype reported that Denver was interested in Martin, who would have been a very solid perimeter defender, slasher, and potential shooter off the Nuggets bench.
But that dream is dead as Martin was moved to Phoenix in a trade for Jusuf Nurkic. The Suns traded a 2026 first-round pick to Charlotte to get off of Jusuf Nurkic’s contract in exchange for Martin, Vasilije Micic, and a 2026 second-round pick.
The Phoenix Suns are trading Jusuf Nurkic and a 2026 first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Cody Martin, Vasilije Micic and a 2026 second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/epRJty7lid
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2025
Micic is probably a fringe rotation player at best, but he had been connected to Denver due to his Serbian heritage and friendship with Nikola Jokic as the two have played together for years on the Serbian National Team. Micic has never made a big splash in the NBA, but he could provide some backup point guard minutes and his chemistry with Jokic could unlock more.
Nuggets’ lack of tradable assets continues to kill them
Again, we are seeing the painful trend of the Nuggets being unable to land any of their targets in trades due to a lack of assets. Denver should be all-in to chase titles with Jokic but the team is so low on depth, prospects, and draft picks that they seem to be almost stuck at this point.
They have almost nothing to offer that wouldn’t hurt their current rotation and it has become agonizingly clear that the lack of draft capital is killing them in every possible pursuit.