The Nuggets’ season came to a disappointing end on Sunday in Game 7 against the Thunder, and the focus quickly shifted to the offseason and ways to improve the roster. The obvious move on everyone’s mind seems to be trading away Michael Porter Jr., but that may not be quite so easy.
People are gravitating to speculation about MPJ because that’s the low-hanging fruit. Porter Jr. has two more guaranteed years on his contract at $38.3 million for 2025-26 and $40.8 million for the 2026-27 season.
Sadly, he hasn’t developed into the player that Denver was hoping for when they gave him a max rookie extension, and Porter Jr. has become a solid, but vastly overpaid, role player. Given the Nuggets’ financial crunch and lack of depth on the roster, moving MPJ and his huge contract seems like a no-brainer. Or is it?
Nuggets desperately need Porter Jr.’s 3-point shooting
Despite shooting a solid percentage as a team, the Nuggets’ 3-point shooting volume was a major issue this season. They were dead last in the league in 3-point attempts per game and 28th in 3-pointers made.
In the modern NBA, that’s a recipe for disaster, and it must be an area of focus this offseason. More spacing and shooting around Nikola Jokic is a must. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really jive with trading away MPJ, who is the team’s best movement shooter by far.
While his overall game hasn’t grown the way the Nuggets had hoped, MPJ has maintained elite shooting on high volume. He led the Nuggets in three-point attempts and makes per game this season, while shooting close to 40%.
He is the only guy on the roster who is a true floor-spacer and a threat to catch and pull from almost anywhere on the floor. He has proven that he can make tough shots, even with a hand in his face, something that many other players on the roster are not even willing to attempt.
Nuggets lack shooting on the current roster
Outside of the obvious stars, Jokic and Murray, the Nuggets don’t have many shooting threats on the roster. Aaron Gordon had a career year shooting the ball, but he wasn’t changing the spacing in a meaningful way consistently, and there’s a chance this season was an outlier in that regard.
Players like Christian Braun and Peyton Watson stepped up and took on bigger roles this season, and they can make open shots, but it’s not their game, and they aren’t truly spacing the floor either. Russell Westbrook was a solid 6th man this season, but he essentially does the opposite of spacing the floor when he’s out there.
This team needs shooting in the worst kind of way, and trading away their best shooter for depth may not exactly solve all of their problems, as some people seem to think.