Denver Nuggets: Can Jared Butler step right in after the NBA Draft?

*UPDATED 18 July 2021* Jared Butler has been medically cleared by the NBA’s fitness-to-play panel via Shams Charania, The Athletic.

With the 26th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Denver Nuggets might select, Jared Butler from Baylor. Those are the words we may hear in about a month if the Nuggets keep their first-round pick.

Butler, alongside his teammate Davion Mitchell, led Baylor University to the 2021 NCAA national title after being an undefeated Gonzaga team.

He was the leading scorer for the stacked Baylor team and put up averages of 16.7 points, 4.8 assists, and two steals a night while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range on 6.2 attempts per game. Those excellent numbers won him the Big 12 Player of the Year and a consensus All-American spot.

The time leading up to the 2021 NBA Draft will give us a clearer idea of where to rank the prospects, but at the moment, Butler can be found anywhere from the lottery to the end of the first round in some mock drafts.

When watching him play, you immediately see the high-end of his talent. He’s a hard-working guard who can very easily someday be a gritty defender who nobody wants to face and is incredibly respectable on offense.

He has the physical tools for a fine defender, standing at 6-foot-4, he also made Big 12 All-Defense and registered a neat two steals a night.

In a pre-draft interview, he compared his game to Kyle Lowry and Jrue Holiday, both very juicy comparisons for someone who can stick in the league.

Alongside the tough defense is his offense, where Butler really shines and is the skill that will catch the eye of many-a-GM. John Hollinger, The Athletic had effusive praise for the guard:

"“He might have the best handle of any player in the draft, and his offensive game is exceptionally well-rounded. I have a hard time seeing how he fails.”"

Outside of his handle, Kevin O’Connor, The Ringer details his maturity on that end of the court:

"“[He’s a] versatile spot-up shooting threat who relocates like a veteran around the perimeter and has excellent footwork coming off screens.“[He’s a] good scorer off the dribble and is most potent in the pick-and-roll, as he can pull up for deep threes or split screens and get to the rim.”"

Jared Butler scouting report: How does he fit with the Denver Nuggets?

The major issue with his 3-and-D comps and skills is that everybody in the league could do with more 3-and-D players.

Denver is no exception and his off-ball smarts and offensive maturity would shine next to a cerebral passer like Nikola Jokic. Jokic often makes poor offensive players look elite so you could imagine what he’d do with the skilled Butler.

Butler would go from college spacing to dribbling around a Jokic pick-and-roll with shooters all around which, I don’t know about you, but that sounds like fun.

The best part for his sake is that he’d be able to find himself a lot of minutes early in the season as Jamal Murray recovers from his ACL injury. With such a refined offensive game already, there should be few speed bumps when entering the league and if his 3-point shooting doesn’t translate, he still has his inside game.

One issue is his health. Butler isn’t participating in this year’s NBA Draft Combine with an undisclosed health issue and will be referred to the NBA’s Fitness-To-Play Panel per Shams Charania, The Athletic.

It could be nothing, it could be something but we’ll find out more as teams learn more moving closer to the draft date.

Many experts have Butler around the mid-first-round of the draft with him dipping his toe in the lottery in some places and hitting the 20s in others. It might even be these health concerns that see the 20-year-old slipping to the second round in Sam Vecenie’s Big Board for The Athletic.

But as always, never discount the craziness that is the NBA Draft, who knows what will happen, maybe the Denver Nuggets can steal the best 3-and-D wing in this year’s draft.