Denver Nuggets: What Did The Nuggets Actually Gain in their Trade?

The Denver Nuggets made two moves before the deadline. While not grabbing any high profile players, there’s plenty of silver lining here.

We are now a week removed from the trade conducted by the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets dealt Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, and Jarred Vanderbilt for Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh, Keita Bates-Diop, and Houston’s 2020 First Round Pick. In a follow-up move, Denver forwarded Napier to Washington in exchange for Jordan McRae.

It seemed a bit confusing at first for Denver to surrender a valuable rotation player in Malik Beasley for what felt like end of the bench pieces. There’s definitely more than meets the eye here, and the moves definitely give Denver some flexibility moving forward, even if they didn’t significantly bolster their playoff roster.

What it means now:

Malik Beasley was seeing very limited minutes in the rotation, acting as a 9th or 10th guy in the rotation. Juancho was out of the rotation completely. Vanderbilt saw even less minutes. This move doesn’t change much dramatically for them now. Jordan McRae will likely fill the minutes left by Malik Beasley in the bench scorer role.

Through a couple of games, Coach Malone seems to like to play Keita Bates-Diop as a bench wing, though that may change once Michael Porter Jr returns.

Noah Vonleh has seen some minutes in a limited capacity with Denver, primarily as additional size off of the bench. For now, he acts as an inexpensive, but capable insurance policy.

In retrospect, the move was not made to improve the team this season, though not much depth, if at all, was lost. In return, the Nuggets have a possible rotation player past year in Bates-Diop, in addition to gaining a draft pick.

What it means moving forward:

The Nuggets afforded themselves additional flexibility this summer. Bates-Diop could continue next year as a rotation player, or flipped as a trade chip, along with the first round pick.

Both expiring contracts are players who could be brought back on very affordable deals to maintain depth into next season. If Plumlee is offered a bigger deal elsewhere, Vonleh could be a suitable replacement. With the emergence of Jerami Grant as an effective big, capable of playing both the 4 and 5, there would naturally be less minutes for Plumlee. Vonleh would be a solid candidate to bring back as the fourth big man on the Nuggets roster, possibly as a bridge, as the Nuggets continue to develop Bol Bol.

The guard rotation moving forward is uncertain. Jamal Murray is locked down, as evidenced by his max contract. Monte Morris is under contract for next year as well. Gary Harris has a few more years on his deal, but it’s unsure what his role will be long term, depending on if he can return to form. Will Barton will find a spot somewhere, with his versatility and consistency being a reliable asset utilized by Coach Malone. It seems like the Nuggets would like to retain their two-way contract prospect in P.J. Dozier, only adding to the options at guard.

Yet, none of these, outside of Gary Harris is a true shooting guard, if Will Barton plays small forward. McRae could be an inexpensive depth piece, capable of playing three positions. Retaining him, however, is probably pretty low on the priority list.

Keita Bates-Diop is a player who the front office thinks highly of. He’s a high-IQ offensive player, and a capable wing defender. He’s on a team option for the 2020-21 season, he could easily be retained.

So what’s the outlook?

Per Matt Moore of the Action Network, the Denver Nuggets were working on a major trade up until the buzzer of the deadline, but nothing came of it.

In the meantime, the Nuggets gained asset flexibility and extended the timeline by which they could acquire a meaningful piece.

This means that an acquisition could arrive this summer via trade. The Nuggets have additional draft capital and player assets that could bundle together quite well if a player becomes available to help them. If not, the Nuggets didn’t lose much in the long term, but now, they have some draft ammo.