As the NBA quickly moves on from the trade deadline, the reality has set in that the Nuggets didn’t make a single move. Despite being connected to almost a dozen players who ended up getting moved, Denver could not get anything to the finish line and saw their targets dispersed to competitors around the league instead.
It’s very disappointing, especially after the Nuggets made their intentions clear all season, getting their name into every trade rumor and report, going all the way back to Zach LaVine in November.
But it’s also not surprising. We’ve known about the team’s disastrous asset and financial situation for a while. It was a seller’s market and the Nuggets didn’t have the goods to make competitive offers. It’s a sad state of affairs, but just viewing this deadline in a vacuum, unless a team was interested in Zeke Nnaji and pick swaps, there just wasn’t much the Nuggets could do.
Ultimately, the Nuggets put themselves in this position. They’ve been far too loose with dealing their picks in the past. The moves they made in years past simply haven’t been good enough and now they are stuck with a roster that is short on both top-end talent and depth.
Plus, they have wasted every single draft pick that’s tradable and they are also the first apron of luxury tax. It’s almost impossible to have a player as good as Nikola Jokic and put this bad of a team around him. That’s on Calvin Booth.
Nuggets paying for past mistakes in real-time
Not being able to make a move is criminal. The Nuggets currently sit at 33-19, good for third place in the Western Conference. Michael Porter Jr. has been on a heater, Jamal Murray has looked much better over the past few weeks, and Aaron Gordon is back healthy, but most of all, this boils down to Nikola Jokic.
Jokic is putting up preposterous stats, averaging 29.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game. He’s also shooting 57.2% from the field, 46.2% from three, and 81.4% from the free throw line. And all the while he’s among the league leaders in steals and deflections while, of course, dominating almost every advanced stat.
For a player who has already climbed every basketball mountain, there is, Jokic is somehow climbing even higher and having the best season of his career. The fact that a 29-year-old three-time MVP is still getting better almost defies the bounds of humanity, but that’s what’s happening.
And that all makes their trade deadline even worse. Given the point Jokic is at in his career, and the season he’s having, not being able to upgrade the roster around him is unforgivable and inexcusable. Hopefully, Jokic is more understanding than I am, because this is just unacceptable for a generational superstar at the absolute apex of his powers.
He’s doing more than anyone could possibly ask from one player and yet the organization can’t surround him with enough quality players to contend for a title. They should be the favorites, instead, it will take more herculean efforts and luck for things to go their way in June.
Jokic has been on some bad teams and had some bad luck around him but this is the worst because it’s all self-inflicted. The Nuggets have failed him at every turn. Letting vets like Bruce Brown and KCP walk. Wasting draft picks to dump Reggie Jackson and move up a few spots on draft night. GIving dump contracts to guys like Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric.
It has been one bad move after another and it’s all amounted to what we see on the court; Jokic trying to drag his team to wins. Nothing is going to change any time soon for the Nuggets. They’ll get access to future picks and some players will come off the books or get closer to expiring.
But there’s no real relief in sight and no get-out-of-jail-free card awaits. They have to hope to strike gold on the buyout market and get a nice draw in the playoffs. But if things go sour, they are going to have to consider massive changes this offseason. Everything from firing Calvin Booth to trading a member of the core four should and will be on the table.