Former Brooklyn Nets GM, Bobby Marks has become one of the best NBA insiders in the game for ESPN. He’s a salary cap and CBA wizard and he still has his finger on the pulse of the league. He may not have been the most successful GM (don’t look up his trade with the Celtics), but he’s a master at analyzing the league’s transaction landscape.
On Tuesday, Marks released a massive trade deadline preview, grouping every team into tiers, creating trade scenarios, and providing outlooks for all 30 teams. He placed the Nuggets at the top of a tier titled “Contracts to trade but limited in draft picks,” along with the Bucks and Timberwolves.
We’ve been over the Nuggets’ situation countless times. The team is short on talent and depth to be a true contender and would love to make an upgrade, but they have very few tradeable contracts and almost zero draft capital.
At this point, the odds of anything resembling a blockbuster deal for the Nuggets ahead of the February 6th trade deadline seem low. But Marks proposed a smaller deal that’s practical, realistic, and could be a major boon for Denver.
Marks proposes Nuggets swap Cancar and cash for Seth Curry
In the deal Marks suggested for the Nuggets, he had the team sending Vlatko Cancar and $2 million in cash to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Seth Curry. This trade would work for both teams financially and roster-wise.
The Hornets just lost Brandon Miller for the season and LaMelo hurt his ankle again on Monday night. They boast a 12-31 record on the year and if they take a look in the mirror, they know it would behoove them to lose as many games as possible and position themselves to draft a franchise player to add to their young core.
Cancar is injured - likely for the season - and the Hornets would add a nice chunk of cash in this deal while getting rid of a player who is currently helping them win games, but at 34 years old, has no future with this rebuilding Charlotte team.
But for the Nuggets, this would be a dream come true. Adding a rotation player without giving up a real asset would be an incredible piece of business by Calvin Booth. Curry is shooting over 46% from three-point range this season, the eighth time in nine seasons he’s been over 40%.
The Nuggets have the lowest three-point volume in the entire league and need more shooters to put around Jokic. Curry would fit the bill and then some as we already saw him have one of his best seasons playing off of Joel Embiid in Philadelphia a few years ago.
Imagining a lineup with four shooters like Curry, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Julian Strawther away is extremely exciting and it’s not hard to picture that lineup lighting off the scoreboard with snipers at every turn.
But even just adding one more reliable player to the rotation would be massive. Curry has his deficiencies on the defensive end, but for a minimum contract player, he’d be an outstanding addition to the squad, one who could help with one of their biggest weaknesses.