Joffrey Lauvergne, Will Barton Debut for Nuggets (VIDEO)

Feb 22, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Denver Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Mitch McGary (33) during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets traveled to Oklahoma City on Sunday night to face the suddenly Kevin Durant-less Thunder. Even without the presence of their All-Star forward, the Thunder handled the Nuggets without much trouble, recording a 119-94 win. While there wasn’t much to get excited about for Nuggets fans, the game did mark the debut of two new faces: Joffrey Lauvergne and Will Barton.

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Lauvergne, the 6′ 11″ big man originally from France, made his NBA debut after recently signing an official contract with Denver late last week. Since being acquired by the Nuggets on a draft day trade that sent Kosta Koufos to the Memphis Grizzlies back in 2013, Lauvergne has played in Europe. Sunday night’s game marked his first official NBA action and he showed why the Nuggets were eager to add him to the roster this season. In just over 18 minutes of action, Lauvergne posted 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He shot 3-of-6 from the field, including 0-for-1 from the three-point line, and hit both of his free throw attempts. Here are the video highlights from his debut:

Lauvergne looks to be light on his feet for his size and exhibits good body control when defending in the post. He also showed off a nice ability to finish around the rim and even flashed a couple of nifty post moves on the offensive end. Obviously this is an extremely small sample size, but I’m excited to see Lauvergne get extended minutes the rest of the season. If he can establish himself as a big who can score and provide decent rim protection, he’s going to be a nice compliment to Jusuf Nurkic down low for the Nuggets.

Barton, who was recently acquired in the trade that sent Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee to Portland, also made his Nuggets debut against OKC. He’s the only player the Nuggets received in the trade that they elected to keep around, after waiving Thomas Robinson and Victor Claver, so fans had to assume there was something about Barton the team liked. He played 25 minutes last night, the second highest minute total behind Jusuf Nurkic’s 28 minutes, and while he only shot 3-of-10 from the field, he finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. He also showed a decent shooting stroke from long distance, hitting 2-of-4 from the three-point line. With Barton’s contract expiring at the end of this season, he has plenty of motivation to show the Nuggets and other teams around the league what he can do. If last night was any indication, Barton will get plenty of court time with Denver the rest of the year, so it will be interesting to see if he can make the most of the opportunity at hand.

Also of note from last night’s game, head coach Brian Shaw returned to the “let’s play everybody” 13-man rotation that he employed at times earlier this season, usually with less than stellar results. Every player who suited up for the Nuggets saw the court last night, with J.J. Hickson (11 and a half minutes) and Erick Green (just under 10 minutes) seeing the fewest minutes. Much of the fourth quarter was garbage time so Shaw may have simply been shoving guys on the court, but it’s worth keeping an eye on to see if he’ll continue to use the 12- or 13-man rotation on a regular basis.

The Nuggets are in action again tonight when they host the Brooklyn Nets at the Pepsi Center.

Next: Grading our Nuggets Trade Deadline Predictions

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