Can Trey Lyles be traded?

The Denver Nuggets have been one of the best stories of the league this season, but there still are some down sides.

One of those down sides for the Denver Nuggets has been Trey Lyles.

After having a bounce back season last year and looking like he had finally found a home where he can thrive, Lyles has quickly regressed this season.

Now, part of this could be blamed on Paul Millsap playing more than half the season as Millsap was out for 44 games last year, which opened up an opportunity for Trey Lyles to earn the most minutes of his career (19.1 minutes per game last season.)

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However, he is getting nearly the same amount amount of minutes this season and has not looked like the Cinderella story we fell in love with last season. So far this year, Lyles is averaging 9.2 points per game on a disappointing 41% from the field.

His three point shooting percentage has taken a drastic hit as he went from striking 38% of his three pointers last year to only 25% of them this season.

Not to mention, his defensive rating stands at 108 which is also higher than his offensive rating which is at an inefficient 99.

Despite a career high usage rate of 23% this season, most of Trey’s numbers have faltered and it is hindering the explosiveness of the Denver Nuggets’ second unit. With all of this in mind, it begs the question of whether the Nuggets would even be able to trade the stretch four?

Would another team take a risk on a power forward that still has not found his footing in his fourth year in the league?

There may be a team out there, but it will be easier said than done for the Nuggets to get a valuable deal for Lyles.

Denver should try to avoid any drastic trades this year with how well their core has been playing, but if Trey Lyles, a power forward off the bench, continues to struggle, it may not hurt to explore some potential deals to bolster the second unit.