The Denver Nuggets have been caught flat-footed by the league this offseason. The NBA is running circles around them. They haven't made a move in free agency, and the only trade they've made was in the NBA draft. Now, after being one of the four rumored teams to be pursuing Jaylen Brown, the Nuggets lost out on him, too. What are the Nuggets up to? What's their plan?
BLOCKBUSTER: The Boston Celtics have agreed to trade Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/xNcNlIV2mh
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2026
ESPN's Shams Charania dropped the bombshell news of the Brown trade, reporting that the Boston Celtics have reached an agreement to send Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two future first-round, and two future second-round picks. Wild.
Where did the 76ers come from? The last rumor had the Nuggets competing with the Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, and Brooklyn Nets. And then the Blazers and Raptors both dropped out by default by making other trades that took Brown off the board for them.
In the end, the likely holdup for the Nuggets in making a deal that would have brought Brown to Denver was probably the lack of draft capital. It certainly couldn't have helped that the Nuggets had no future first-round picks to trade.
The Nuggets may not have many good options left in free agency
The Nuggets haven't made a single move in free agency, and they missed out on bringing back Tim Hardaway Jr., who took his talents to South Beach and joined forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo on a $6.5 million mid-level exemption that wasn't available to the Nuggets thanks to their salary woes. It's a sizeable raise from what the Nuggets could have offered THJ, and it was more or less expected, but it still stings.
But there's been no peeps about anything the Nuggets are doing except for contacting LeBron James of all things. James decided he wants to leave Los Angeles in search of another championship ring on his way out before he finally retires, making him a free agent. He's willing to sign for a minimum contract, and the Nuggets have a realistic chance to land him if their pitch is good enough.
But what's the pitch going to be? "Hey, Bron, we'll sign you first and then figure out the rest of the pieces of the puzzle." Not great.
And to make matters worse on the signing of other free agents front, the price for the free agents that were thought to be the minimum wasn't. Keon Ellis, for example, would have been a great fit as a replacement for Bruce Brown or Hardaway, but he signed with the Brooklyn Nets for two years, $18 million. Far out of the Nuggets' price range.
There won't be many good options left for the Nuggets at the rate they're going. They'd better hope they at least land LeBron.
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