The Denver Nuggets are in the market for wing players this deadline and the rumors of interest in Bryn Forbes only go so far to address this issue.
The San Antonio Spurs look like they’ll be active in the mid-season trade deadline for the first time since 2014 when they moved French guard, Nando De Colo, to the Toronto Raptors. They have made Thaddeus Young and Bryn Forbes available this deadline.
According to Michael Scotto, HoopsHype, the Nuggets are one of the teams who could make a move for the 3-point shooter. The report adds that the Spurs are hoping to open up playing time for their younger players:
"“With San Antonio currently outside the play-in Tournament, moving Forbes would open up more backcourt minutes for first-round pick Joshua Primo.“Forbes, 28, is a career 41.3 percent 3-point shooter in the final year of his contract worth $4.5 million.”"
On top of Primo, San Antonio has other guard prospects like Devin Vassell and Tre Jones who could do with more playing time.
Forbes is an excellent shooter from behind the arc and has been serviceable for Gregg Popovich in his two stops as well as in his lone season with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Denver Nuggets need shooting in a bad way but this rumored move would be an extremely short-sighted one by Tim Connelly and the Nuggets brass.
While shooting is crucial across the league, Forbes hasn’t proven to be elite enough in the other areas of his game to warrant trading for. Adding him to this Denver roster would give them another shooter but without Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. healthy, they’ll run into the same problems.
Additionally, it’s looking like Murray and MPJ will be at full strength in the 2022-23 season, when the roster is ready to compete. With only one year remaining on his contract, Bryn would need to be re-signed in the offseason. If the unlikely happens and Forbes develops into a greater ball-handler and off-the-dribble scorer, he could just cash out in free agency and be too costly for the Nuggets.
Trading away Forbes opens up playing time for the Spurs younger players while getting in the way of Denver’s young guard in Bones Hyland, a nightmare for most Nuggets fans.
While it’s looking like Denver isn’t throwing away this season given the injuries, if Connelly does want to push his chips in and make a move this season, he’d be better off trading for a player that’s under contract for next season as well.