Denver Nuggets: 3 trade-up scenarios in the 2021 NBA Draft

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Zeke Nnaji of the Denver Nuggets warms up prior to the game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /

Denver Nuggets 2021 draft trade-up scenarios: OKC swap for an established player

This trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder is a challenge trade of sorts. It sees Denver send their own first-round pick this season and Zeke Nnaji, last season’s 22nd overall pick, to the Thunder in exchange for one of OKC’s late teens picks – 16th or 18th.

OKC received the 16th pick from the Boston Celtics and the 18th from the Houston Rockets.

At face value, it’s a poor trade, OKC go from their draft slot, down to 22 by swapping the players. Additionally, OKC loses a season of team control since Nnaji just spent one year of his possible four on a rookie deal on Denver’s bench.

The rationale from OKC’s side is that they value Nnaji’s potential higher than any of the players they might be able to select themselves. While Zeke didn’t show a lot in his rookie campaign, OKC must’ve done their scouting last season when they had the 17th and 25th picks (Aleksej Pokusevski and Immanuel Quickley respectively) and maybe they were interested a year ago but decided to go in another direction.

From Denver’s standpoint, if Tim Connelly and the front office believe they misevaluated Nnaji and can’t see a pathway to playing time for him, they may as well wash their hands of the experience and have another attempt at drafting a contributor.

The drop in value might be too steep even if OKC believes in Nnaji, when it all goes right, mid-first-round picks can be some of the most valuable selections in the draft. Sam Presti might not want to part with either of his.