Once again, the trade machine is cooking up ideas, and the latest one involves Aaron Gordon shipping off to the Charlotte Hornets to replenish some future draft picks and save on salary. It would be a difficult tug on the heartstrings to trade Gordon, but the NBA moves fast, and the Nuggets' window to win another championship with Nikola Jokic only has so long.
The Denver Nuggets don't have control of any of their first-round picks, and they've traded two of the next three beyond the 2026 draft away, in what could be the most difficult stretch to obtain first-round picks we've seen in years.
But Yossi Gozlan and Sam Quinn got 95% of the way to a deal that works in the trade machine with the Hornets on the "Third Apron Podcast." I added Ryan Kalkbrenner as a solid, inexpensive, young non-Nikola Jokic-minutes backup center to get the trade to turn green in the system.
Nuggets receive: Miles Bridges, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and whatever package of picks to make it work.
Hornets receive: Aaron Gordon
The package of picks is, of course, the attractive play here.
The Nuggets would lose defense but gain youth
One of the Nuggets' pressing needs and what was missing without Aaron Gordon on the floor in the first-round playoff series defeat was defense. But the Nuggets were also unable to slash to the rim, something Bridges would improve upon.
Bridges is a scoring-first wing with downhill ability who also rebounds well, but he's coming off a down year with the Hornets. Maybe that gets the Nuggets an added second-round pick?
The Hornets aren't short of any picks. They've got them in bunches, including two first-round picks this year, three for the 2027 draft, and two in 2029. And starting in 2027, the Hornets have at least two second-round picks in each draft until 2032. They've done a tremendous job of stacking picks and have a youthful team. They could use a veteran presence like AG for a potential playoff run.
If the Nuggets want to get younger and stack some picks for a run over a couple of years, the Hornets are the team to hone in on. The Nuggets could get two of those firsts and a second and add to the cupboard that's currently mostly bare of picks.
The Nuggets would get deeper with this trade
While losing Gordon would hurt the defense in the starting unit, the Nuggets would get deeper, and the second unit in the non-Jokic minutes would get a young, capable rim protector in Kalkbrenner.
Kalkbrenner averaged 7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 21.4 minutes per game while making 31 starts for the Hornets in his rookie season. The Nuggets could even experiment with him and Jokic as a twin-tower setup.
The Nuggets will have to make some changes at some point. At least this trade idea would bring the Nuggets some youth around Joker in the future, while still keeping a win-now profile.
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