Nuggets fans have gotten used to seeing the team and its players near the top of all sorts of power rankings over the past few seasons. That’s what happens when you win a championship and have Nikola Jokic, a three-time league MVP.
But building that contending team around the world’s best players has come at a cost. It has given the Nuggets’ front office no margin for error in building out the roster and left them largely bereft of assets.
That’s a problem in terms of the team’s ability to make any trades to upgrade the roster. But it’s also a problem in terms of the actual talent on the roster. We’ve bemoaned the fact that Calvin Booth and the front office made a bet on a youth movement of players drafted outside the lottery in recent years.
Overall, they’ve done an okay job, but none of those players have a star trajectory - or anything close to it. They’ve got some nice up-and-coming role players, but these guys aren’t changing the long-term outlook of the franchise, and they may not be quite ready to contribute as much as the current roster demands.
Nuggets have worst draft assets of any team in the league
To make matters worse, not only are the Nuggets devoid of young talent, but they are in an even worse spot when it comes to draft capital. ESPN’s Bobby Marks compiled a list ranking every NBA team 1-30 base don their draft assets over the next seven years. The Nuggets ranked 30th out of 30 on the list.
That’s worse than the Suns, who mortgage their entire future for Kevin Durant. That’s worse than the Timberwolves who traded a zillion picks for Rudy Gobert. That’s even worse than the Knicks who just traded even more picks for Mikal Bridges. It’s even worse than the Bucks, who traded it all for Jrue Holiday, then doubled down and traded it all again for Damian Lillard.
The Nuggets are in worse shape than all of them. They don’t have a single first-round pick they can trade and only one in 2031 that they can even swap. They also only have a 2031 2nd-round pick to deal. It’s a dire situation that makes any trade seem almost unimaginable.
And worse still, it almost feels like the Nuggets have nothing to show for it all. They’ve sacrificed picks to get off bad contracts or move up a few spots in the draft. Some of the moves have been okay; they added Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson for picks. But some have been awful, like trading three 2nds just to dump Reggie Jackson.
But there’s no big haul the Nuggets have to show for their troubles. At least the other teams near the bottom of the list got game-changers and superstars like KD, Lillard, and others. The Nuggets won the lottery by drafting Nikola Jokic in the 2nd-round. But since then, they’ve horribly mismanaged their assets and now the franchise is paying the price.