So far there have been two meaningful trades during this NBA season (apologies to Thomas Bryant). Both of those trades involved the Brooklyn Nets, a team that is clearly trying to make their current roster worse, add draft capital and assets, and improve their own draft position for 2025.
First, about a month ago, the Nets dealt their starting point guard Dennis Schroder to the Warriors. The main return for Brooklyn in the deal? Three 2nd-round draft picks. Then on Sunday, the Nets traded another one of their solid veteran players, Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers. The main return? Again, three 2nd-round picks.
In recent years, 2nd-round picks have gained a ton of value around the league. Teams that strike gold in round two get a player on an excellent contract. Plus, with so many differing opinions around prospects, an early 2nd-round pick can be almost as good as a late 1st.
Teams are wont to deal 1st-round picks without protections, so teams taking that return are running the risk of never receiving a pick at all. With teams holding and protecting 1st-round picks, 2nd-round picks have really become common sweeteners and wheel-greasers in a lot of these non-blockbuster trades.
Nuggets fans had to have seen these trades go down and immediately frustrated. Two Western Conference teams competing for seeding with Denver went out and made meaningful upgrades to their team essentially just by giving up 2nd-round picks.
An offensive hub like Dennis Schroder would have been a massive boon to the Nuggets bench. A big 3&D wing like DFS would have also been a huge get for the Nuggets. Why can’t Denver go out and get a player like that?
Nuggets wasted 2nd-round picks in Reggie Jackson salary dump trade
Sadly, one of the biggest reasons the Nuggets can’t get involved in talks for these solid role players is that they’ve wasted their draft pick capital. For some inexplicable reason, Calvin Booth was so desperate to get rid of Reggie Jackson and the last year of his $5 million salary that he gave the Nuggets last three remaining 2nd-round picks to the Hornets. Just for taking on the deal!
The Nuggets used these valuable assets and didn’t get a single thing back. They just freed up a roster spot and didn’t have to pay Jackson. Perhaps most frustrating? They had just signed Jackson to that deal one year earlier and Calvin Booth and the Nuggets front office gave him this $5 million player option for absolutely no reason.
It was a disastrous signing at the time and compounded by what they paid just to move him. That’s just an unacceptable use of valuable assets for a team that is trying to win a championship. Every time a player comes available and we see them gobbled up by a team that can dangle a few 2nd-round picks, Nuggets fans will be reminded of this atrocious reason that the Nuggets don’t have their own to offer.