Under-the-radar trade targets for the Denver Nuggets
By Sean Carroll
Denver Nuggets under-the-radar trade candidates: Coby White
Early on in the 2021-22 NBA season, there were rumors that Coby White was available for trade and I wrote that the Denver Nuggets should think about trading for him. The Chicago Bulls were rolling (and still are) and White was superfluous on a roster that was stacked at the guard positions.
According to Michael Scotto, The HoopsHype Podcast, White is available in trades as he was a draft selection from the previous regime and there was little interest in holding on to him.
Since then, White returned from offseason shoulder surgery and has played sparingly. Recently, he has been asked to play a bigger role as head coach Billy Donovan has looked for alternatives as players miss time due to injury.
Coby is averaging 10.8 points this season in only 24.3 minutes a night, the lowest of his career.
A deal between the Bulls and Nuggets would likely be a swap with Zeke Nnaji and White, giving Chicago a better option at backup center, something they’ve needed this season. The Nuggets get a guard prospect who will be under his rookie contract for this season and the next.
Could White play alongside Jamal Murray when this team is fully healthy? It poses a lot of defensive questions but for the remainder of this season, White would fill in a lot of the offensive punch and could replace Austin Rivers and/or Facundo Campazzo in the rotation.
Fans might not like the sound of that given White hasn’t proven he’s an NBA-level guard yet but for some reason, I can’t seem to move on from him. I think White still has plenty to prove since coming into the NBA and adding an athletic guard next to Nikola Jokic won’t hurt his production.
Worth the risk.