Is Coby White the answer to the Denver Nuggets bench issues?

The Denver Nuggets have failed to create consistent offense off the bench in the 2021-22 season. Michael Malone will probably look for internal improvement to start the season, but is there external help that the team could get?

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White could be a trade candidate as his role has slowly been eroded by draftees and free agency decisions according to Michael Scotto, The HoopsHype Podcast:

"“A couple of executives around the league I spoke to believe that Coby White is a trade candidate for the Bulls because he was a part of the old regime, and he’ll move to that bench role as a combo guard.”"

White is currently out until some time in November following offseason surgery on his left shoulder, so it’s no guarantee that he’ll be ready to play at a high level when he does return.

Assuming he comes back and plays at his average level, a possible trade with the Denver Nuggets would be more focused on matching salary than assets. And once Denver can send out the right salary, do the Bulls even wants to do it?

After signing Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and DeMar DeRozan in free agency, the guard and wing spots in Chicago are set. At the moment, the backup guards are Caruso, Javonte Green, and Troy Brown Jr. and after starting the season off undefeated, there’d be little reason to believe Billy Donovan would want to shake up the rotation to integrate White.

Here’s what a potential trade between the two sides would look like:

The Denver Nuggets would be able to essentially swap out Facundo Campazzo for Coby White, adding a bit more of scoring punch to a backup unit that desperately needs a creator.

Before the game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Denver full bench unit was a net -53.4 in 28 total minutes per Basketbal Reference’s lineup data. It also passes the eye test with the bench slowly ceding leads this year while the starters sit, only to come back in with a gargantuan task ahead of them.

Against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was too much of a deficit to come back from and Malone soon replaced the starters with end-of-the-bench players for garbage time.

Bringing in Coby White also helps the Denver Nuggets title hopes in 2022-23 as the former North Carolina guard has one year remaining on his rookie-scale deal after this season, keeping him in the fold for the following season.

When Jamal Murray is healthy again, White would have a smaller role off the bench but with his shooting, he’d arguably be a better fit off the bench or mixed in with some starter lineups.

From Chicago’s point of view, it gets tricky. Yes, the Bulls are likely happy to move on from their former lottery pick and Arturas Karnisovas keeps shaping the team in his image, but he might be able to get more in a different trade.

White hasn’t played up to his superstar billing as of yet, but there would almost definitely be a team out there willing to take a flier on him. If the price to beat is Campazzo and Nnaji, most teams could beat it.

As for on the court, the Bulls could see it as addition by subtraction, keeping their guard rotation as it is and clearing out a soon-to-be restricted free agent before he could leave for nothing.

It’s not time for the Nuggets to make a panic trade, especially since this season is all about continuity until Murray is healthy, but it might be a worthwhile buy-low trade that addresses two issues: bench depth this season and next season.

If Coby White is available around February’s trade deadline and the Nuggets still have depth issues, Denver might be a dark horse candidate.