3 Brooklyn Nets on trade block; could Nuggets be interested buyers?

The Nuggets’ roster seems pretty much set at this point going into the season, but it’s not a finished product. The team has some holes, notably in terms of shooting. The bench is made up completely of veteran cast-offs and unproven young players. For a team with championship aspirations, the team has quite a lot of uncertainty heading into the new season.

After the Jamal Murray extension, the Nuggets don’t have a ton of wiggle room or flexibility. They’ve got a lot of money tied up in their top four players and almost every other player is on a short, cheap contract. If they want to make a move, they’ll either have to move a key starter or find a taker for Zeke Nnaji.

But despite their limitations, the Nuggets have to keep their ears to the ground and seek out any possible upgrades that come available on the market. And it seems that before we even hit training camp, there’s a team ready to blow it up; the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets are ready to blow it up

According to a New York Post report, the Nets are ready to enter a full rebuild. They are willing to trade veteran role players, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Dennis Schroeder.

In a vacuum, any and all of those players would be a great addition to the Nuggets, but would it be practical? That’s another question. Unfortunately, even though the fit would make a lot of sense, it’s tough to imagine how Denver could make it work.

Each of those Nets players is under a contract that will pay them at least $13 million this season. Schroeder is on a $13 million expiring deal, DFS is set to make $14.9 million this year with a player option next season that he’ll likely decline, Bogey has a $19 million partially guaranteed expiring deal, and Cam Johnson is on the hook for $22.5 million.

There is no realistic path for the Nuggets to trade for any of these Nets players

The bad news for the Nuggets is that to acquire any of those players, they would need to come up with matching salary, plus add something to entice the Nets into the deal. The Nuggets could start with Nnaji and his $8.8 million, but they’d still need to add in multiple bench players to make the money work, and they have limited draft capital to grease the wheels for the Nets.

Realistically, this is a long shot at best. The Nuggets would have to majorly compromise their depth and pool of young prospects. The other option for Denver is to deal MPJ; his $35.9 million could get Johnson and another one of the players. This could make the Nuggets deeper and more versatile while improving their cap situation. But would the Nets want Porter Jr. and his contract? 

As nice as some of these moves would be, I think it’s safe to all but rule them out. Unless the Nets view MPJ very highly or the Nuggets get desperate and are willing to sacrifice their final remaining draft picks, these trades are probably nothing more than a pipe dream.