We’re now less than a week out from the NBA’s February 6th trade deadline and things are still up in the air with the Denver Nuggets. The team played well for several weeks and looked like they might have turned a corner, but now they’ve lost three straight games and have some controversy around their starting lineup.
At the beginning of the season, rumors were swirling around the team left and right, but those have cooled off as the season has gone on and the Nuggets have settled in. All sides seemed to reach a kind of realization that they had limited avenues to make any tangible upgrades
But now as the deadline approaches, those talks have started to pick up again and it’s looking like now or never for the team to make an upgrade before another playoff push. The Nuggets don’t have much draft capital to play with and no real movable salary or desirable young prospects.
A deal is not going to be easy, but there are definitely some ways they can get creative to make moves on the margins. The latest reports to come out from Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype indicate that the Nuggets have been keeping tabs on multiple players from the Raptors.
Nuggets have expressed interest in Chris Boucher
Scotto confirmed a previous report from Ian Begley that the Nuggets have expressed interest in big man Chris Boucher. Boucher can play some four and five and has been shooting the lights out from three-point range this season.
He would be a great fit with the Nuggets as a stretch big and could provide strong frontcourt depth backing up either Nikola Jokic or Aaron Gordon. Boucher makes $10.8 million in the final year of his deal.
The Nuggets could get there with Zeke Nnaji and another minimum contract, but they’ll have to find some sweetener with their limited draft assets. It’s a long shot, and if there are any other interested teams, it’s going to be very difficult for Denver to win this “bidding war”, but Boucher would be a great addition to the rotation.
Nuggets monitoring Bruce Brown situation
Another Raptors player that Scotto reported that the Nuggets have been monitoring is former Nugget, Bruce Brown. Brown has been wallowing away in Toronto on the last year of a $23 million deal. There’s no realistic way for Denver to deal for Brown on his current contract, but if the Raptors can’t find a taker for him, then he could become a buyout candidate.
On the buyout market, the Nuggets could be one of the top suitors for Brown and a reunion could be great for both sides. Brown was integral to the 2023 title run and he could slot right back into his old bench role. There’s no telling whether or not a buyout will come to fruition, but this is probably the best and most realistic path to the Nuggets meaningfully improving the roster this season.