The Nuggets received a big win via the Milwaukee Bucks as a flurry of trades swept across the league in the waning moments leading up to the trade deadline at 3 p.m. Eastern. Per ESPN's Shams Charania, Giannis Antetokounmpo will be staying in Milwaukee. The Bucks are going to try to build around him this summer.
After the mini-disaster in New York, the Nuggets completed what will likely be their toughest stretch on the schedule and came out of it with their first three-game losing streak of the season. They need a chance to recuperate and get healthy. The last thing the Nuggets needed was any team in the West leveling up and getting stronger.
Imagine if Giannis ended up in Minnesota alongside Anthony Edwards? That's a matchup no fan wants to face in the second round of the playoffs. It's tough enough to go through Minnesota now, let alone with Giannis. Adding him to a team already 4th in the league in points per game (119.6) would turn the T-Wolves into a wagon. The Nuggets didn't need to hitch onto that reality in May.
Per Marc Stein's paid Substack post in late January, the Golden State Warriors were also rumored to be in the mix for Giannis. Imagine Giannis teaming up with Steph Curry? That would have been another conundrum Nuggets fans would rather not face so early into the postseason. But today's news from Shams puts that thought to bed.
The Nuggets have to prioritize health
None of that actually came to fruition, and the trade deadline is now squarely behind us. The newly under-the-luxury-tax Nuggets will first look to remain healthy long enough to make a deep playoff run. Health is, without a doubt, the biggest story of the year.
Plus, that extra cap space could enable the Nuggets to sign someone who's been bought out by their team. Any able-bodied veteran, at whatever salary number it takes to stay under the cap, would do at this point. The salary-dump buyout market should be ready for the choosing in a couple of weeks.
The Nuggets have shown the bench has a ton of talent, evidenced by the 10-6 record while Nikola Jokic was sidelined in January. And coach David Adelman continues to get the most out of his piecemeal lineups. It's just starting feel tiresome for everyone to say, "if they can stay on the floor" so often. The Nuggets are 33-19, third in the West. Imagine this team at full strength?