As the Denver Nuggets return back to the United States fresh off their trip to the United Arab Emirates for the NBA’s Abu Dhabi Games, the vibes are high and team morale appears to be flourishing. These kinds of trips can be amazing bonding experiences and opportunities to build chemistry.
The team seems tightly knit, which is great news with just a few weeks left until the regular season begins. But while the team is steady right now, there will inevitably be shake-ups and the bottom line is this roster won’t look the same at the end of the season as it does now.
Major changes may not be in order, but there will be tweaks throughout the season. The Nuggets’ core is likely intact, but here’s a look at three players on the current roster who are unlikely to make it through the coming season in Denver.
3.) Jalen Pickett: It’s time for this experiment to end
I had high hopes for Pickett coming out of Penn State but he just doesn’t look like an NBA-caliber player right now. He appeared to be coming on at the beginning of last season, but he didn’t take a big leap in the G-League, and then he had a brutal summer league this offseason.
He struggled mightily to shoot in the two preseason games so far and just doesn’t look up to snuff. The Nuggets gave Pickett a guaranteed rookie contract, which has another year after this one, but they need to upgrade his roster spot if at all possible.
Pickett won’t have any trade value, but he could be used to throw in some kind of deal at some point. If it comes to it, they may need to find a way to waive or stretch him somehow and eat the money. It’s a minimum deal and would be a small price to pay in order to add a meaningful veteran free agent or a player on the buyout market at some point.
The Nuggets need meaningful contributors off the bench this season and Pickett isn’t going to be one. They need to find a way to move on and optimize the end of the bench.
2.) Hunter Tyson - It was fun while it lasted
Much like Pickett, Tyson simply is not an NBA player. He seems like a good kid and he plays hard all the time, but he’s going to have a hard time making an impact in the league. He doesn’t have anything close to an elite skill and his size makes him an awkward fit at any position.
He’s on the exact same rookie deal as Pickett so a lot of what I said about Pickett applies here for Tyson as well. Their deals are interchangeable, so if any team has interest in one over the other, the Nuggets shouldn’t hesitate to throw them in any trade.
If they have to eat Tyson’s money, so be it. They just have to maximize every potential resource available to them with the current NBA landscape. Nikola Jokic’s prime won’t last forever, the league is extremely competitive right now, and every possible advantage must be seized.
Sadly, having Tyson on the roster is not maximizing every spot and the team should look to upgrade by any means. There are a number of veterans still on the free agent market who could help the Nuggets and would likely sign for a minimum.
That list of names will only grow as the season goes on and the Nuggets should be ready to swing on a player who could actually help them, unlike Tyson.
1.) Zeke Nnaji: The Nugget’s trade machine golden boy
Nnaji was quietly one of the bigger disappointments for the Nuggets last season. He played well enough to earn a four-year, $32 million contract extension last October, but that deal looked questionable almost immediately.
Even at the time of signing it was a bit of a head-scratcher. Nnaji had been solid, but there should have been no rush to pay him - especially at that relatively high number. Nnaji quickly regressed on the court and fell completely out of Michael Malone’s rotation by the end of the season, barely appearing in the playoffs.
The Nuggets went out and drafted DaRon Holmes II, then signed Dario Saric in free agency. Those were pretty clear indications that Nnaji had lost his spot in the rotation. But with $8.8 million coming his way this season, the Nuggets can’t afford to be using that money on somebody who doesn’t play.
His money is also a decent starting point to match salary in a potential trade. Nnaji is still just 22 years old and has shown enough that a rebuilding team could be willing to take a shot on him. Denver needs to be aggressive in shopping Nnaji and finding any potential swap that brings back a rotation player.
PJ Tucker is a player who has already been rumored to hit the trade market and could be of help to the Nuggets. Nnaji’s salary would go a long way in making that deal work, and if not that one, his name will keep coming up until he is finally dealt.