Could the Denver Nuggets make a move for Toronto’s pieces?
By Sean Carroll
Denver Nuggets: Trading back for OG Anunoby
The 2017 NBA Draft was one of the worst in the Tim Connelly era but it’s fully excusable considering how great he has performed in others.
The Denver Nuggets entered draft night with the 13th pick in the first round. Instead of just taking a player there, the team had their eyes set on OG Anunoby who would be available in the late first round and decided to trade down with the Utah Jazz.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, the 24th pick the Nuggets received in exchange was one after the Raptors who promptly selected the sturdy wing out of Indiana.
Making matters worse, the pick Denver traded out of turned out to be Donovan Mitchell who immediately became a go-to scorer for a post-Gordan Hayward Utah team, taking them back into the playoffs and now growing into one of the best young guards in the league.
Denver drafted Tyler Lydon with the 24th pick.
But that’s all in the past, now OG is one of the better wing defenders in the league and has a fully-fledged jump shot. This past season, he averaged 15.9 points per game while shooting a hair under 40 percent from 3-point range on six attempts a night.
Not only is he the ideal 3-and-D wing, he’s also shown some flashes in creating his own offense, leading to some believing the 23-year-old has a little more to his game, some untapped potential if you will.
What would it take for the Denver Nuggets to trade for him? Probably a lot.
Entering his age-24 season, Masai could see OG as part of the young core moving forwards with this roster and would be hesitant to trade him without a bona fide star coming back in return.
Outside of the core three; Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr., Denver doesn’t have enough top-tier assets to move for the wing.
For a trade to work, the Nuggets would have to send back Will Barton (after three months have passed since he just re-signed) and a collection of future draft picks. If Denver wants to throw in a prospect like Bones Hyland or Zeke Nnaji, Toronto would have to match the salary since they’re right up against the hard cap. At the moment, it seems like the Raptors are happy enough with their own young players, so it wouldn’t be a like-for-like trade.
Additionally, if OG is tradeable, there are plenty of other teams out there who could beat a potential Denver offer like the Golden State Warriors or Philadelphia 76ers (pending the Ben Simmons situation).
To trump an outside offer, would the Nuggets part ways with MPJ? Unlikely, especially since Mike Singer, The Denver Post reported that the wing and the team are happy with their progression towards a new deal.
Denver had a chance to draft OG in 2017 and with how he has grown since then, it’s looking that draft night was the closest we’ll see him potential ending up on a Nuggets roster.