Since winning the title in 2023, the Nuggets have made tweaks here and there and taken some swings on different players, but the roster has been slowly whittled away. They took a chance letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk, but it seemed to work out. They took a shot at trading Michael Porter Jr., and it didn’t quite land. They took a shot, giving Christian Braun an extension instead of Peyton Watson, and it looks like a disaster.
The price to pay for trying to compete year in and year out is steep, and with more misses than hits piling up, the Nuggets are running out of swings. We’re at the point now where it feels like the only way the team can truly make tangible changes to the roster that could get them back to contention is by parting with one of Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon.
The reality of the situation is that this team is stuck financially; they’ve basically mortgaged their future tradeable draft capital, their core of Jokic, Murray, and Gordon simply isn’t good enough, and those are the only players with positive trade value.
Braun’s five-year, $125 million extension may be close to untradeable, Cam Johnson’s expiring may have neutral value, at best, Jonas Valanciunas and Zeke Nnaji are basically luggage, and everyone else is a free agent or a rookie deal.
Nuggets can’t afford to miss on Murray or Gordon trade
So, that leads us back to the big three. Jokic obviously isn’t going anywhere, so the front office, led by Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, must find a way to maximize value on a return for one of their core players in a way that complements whoever is left.
For all intents and purposes, this may be the last real move that this team gets to make to build another champion around the Joker. Jokic isn’t going to be on this level forever, and based on the playoffs this season, the team around him is a very long way away from true contention.
That means that this young, inexperienced front office, which has made some questionable moves in its brief tenure, is suddenly under the weight of the world, with one more big move at its disposal to save this situation.
If this move goes wrong and the team gets worse, they are going to be stuck, with no hope of repair, and the only option left will eventually be the doomsday scenario of trading Jokic. We’re not there yet, and we don’t ever have to get there, but that’s going to require some wheeling and dealing, the likes of which we haven’t seen in several years, and never from this leadership group. No pressure, or anything.
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