Denver Nuggets: Will Facundo Campazzo’s suspension matter?

Facundo Campazzo has been suspended for Game 1 of the first-round series against the Golden State Warriors. Will his absence hurt the Denver Nuggets’ chances?

The NBA suspended him for one game after intentionally shoving LA Lakers guard Wayne Ellington on the last day of the regular season. Ellington has been fined $20,000 for escalating the incident with a threatening comment on social media postgame.

But will Campazzo’s absence factor into the playoff rotation for the Denver Nuggets? Since Michael Malone started trusting Bones Hyland more, Facu’s role has shrunk.

After the All-Star break, Campazzo’s minutes dropped from just over 20 per game to eight, and while on the court, he has posted a 76 offensive rating per Basketball-Reference. Compare that to Bones who, since the break, is averaging 12.8 points and 4.3 assists while shooting a flat 40 percent from behind the arc.

Bones Hyland is much better at shooting the ball from the outside and his off-the-dribble game blends with Nikola Jokic’s passing ability. When the playoffs come and the rotations likely tighten up, Malone might excise Facu altogether and stick distribute his minutes to Bones and Monte Morris.

Despite the clear offensive difference, Campazzo might have been a better option on Stephen Curry. I’m not saying Facu is a defensive stopper, he has struggled on that end as a small guard that can only defend one position, but he can be an annoyance for opposing guards and could be useful in spot minutes against Curry.

Similar to Dwight Howard’s role in the 2020 Western Conference Finals against Jokic, Campazzo could check in for a few possessions, try and get away with a few sneaky fouls, and rest Monte and Bones for spurts. If it doesn’t work, then no harm, it’s only a couple of possessions.

The argument against this is that this tactic didn’t work against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers in last year’s playoffs. Malone ended up putting Aaron Gordon on Lillard for most of the game as the combination of Monte and Facu wasn’t enough to keep him in check.

Steph’s much better than Dame, even if he’s coming off an injury. Will Malone start with a guard or Will Barton on Steph? Will he cut out the middle man and put AG on him from the tip? We’ll find out very soon.

At the end of the day, Facundo Campazzo’s suspension shouldn’t factor in too much in the series. His minutes will likely be cannibalized by his fellow guards and the suspension just takes a card out of Malone’s deck that probably should have been out of it to begin.