There is seldom a dull moment for the NBA’s neverending transaction cycle, but the beginning of the regular season may be as close as we come. Teams are still feeling themselves out and finding their footing.
Nobody wants to rush into any rash decisions; most front offices want to see what they have in the teams they put together just months ago. It will generally take at least a month or so to get a meaningful sample size before teams are ready to make changes.
But another big reason why the transaction cycle seems a little slow right now is that many players around the league are not eligible to be traded at the moment. That changes this weekend as free agents who signed in the offseason are eligible to be traded starting on Sunday, December 15th; the unofficial start of trade deadline season.
4 Nuggets become trade-eligible this weekend
For the Nuggets, that means the four players who were signed this offseason as free agents will become trade-eligible this Sunday, December 15th. Denver needs to make some moves to shore up the rotation as badly as almost any in the league, but I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be for them to move any of these players for value.
Russell Westbrook (2 years/$6.5 million)
First of all, the Nuggets have no reason or desire to move Russ; he’s been a bit of a revelation recently. He’s one of the only players who consistently, clearly gives a damn and it has been a welcome breath of fresh air.
He’s playing well and has carved out a niche whether off the bench or in the starting lineup. There’s no way the Nuggets could trade Westbrook for an upgrade at this point. Frankly, they are lucky to have him or things could be even worse.
Dario Saric (2 years/$10.6 million)
The Nuggets would love to move Saric, if even just to get off of his contract but that’s going to be a challenge. This two-year, $10.6 million deal immediately looked like a disaster. Saric is completely unplayable and Denver inexplicably gave him the full taxpayer midlevel exception with a player option for next season.
Saric represents beyond negative value at this point and the Nuggets would have to pay in draft capital for a team to consider a deal. But the Nuggets are strapped for picks and paying handsomely just to get off a deal they signed months ago would be catastrophic.
DeAndre Jordan (1 year/$2.1 million)
DJ has zero value to any team in the league on his vet minimum deal. He has more value to the Nuggets as a veteran leader, great teammate, and locker room presence. He’s like an assistant coach at this point; I can’t imagine he’s going anywhere.
Vlatko Cancar (1 year/$2.1 million)
Vlatko is a fringe rotation player entering his late 20s who hasn’t been able to stay on the court. Now dealing with second major knee surgery in as many years, no team would be dealing for Vlatko. The Nuggets are probably better off just keeping him and hoping that he can get healthy and contribute in Denver.