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Denver Nuggets: 3 trade-up scenarios in the 2022 NBA Draft

By Sean Carroll

23 Jun. 2016; New York, NY, USA; Juan Hernangomez walks to the stage after being selected as the number fifteen overall pick to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
23 Jun. 2016; New York, NY, USA; Juan Hernangomez walks to the stage after being selected as the number fifteen overall pick to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports) /
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The NBA Draft is much closer than we realize as the NBA Finals are nearly at the halfway mark. The Denver Nuggets currently own the 21st pick but with Calvin Booth at the helm, he might want to pull the trigger on a trade-up, nabbing an elite prospect.

This isn’t usually a move that title contenders do but with the Nuggets’ core so young, there may be merit in trading away some present value to add an influx of talent for the next five years of Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr., and Jamal Murray.

If Booth believes he can make as strong a draft impact as his predecessor, Denver might be able to open “two windows” of title contention, developing a young star in the background while this core competes in the coming seasons.

All of these hypothetical trades focus on talent coming back to Denver while also moving up in the draft. A lot of the time, this is a hard balance to execute but the Nuggets have plenty of salaries they could bundle together to take back a bad contract for the next few seasons.

Let’s get into the first hypothetical: