5 players Denver Nuggets might replace Michael Porter Jr. with by the trade deadline

4.) Brandon Ingram, New Orleans Pelicans

Ingram is another player who has been on the trade block as he’s entering the final year of his contract with no new deal in sight. The fit between Ingram and Zion Williamson has been clunky at best as there’s too much overlap between their skill sets and the space they want to occupy on the court.

The biggest issue in moving Ingram for the Pels has been a lack of teams that are willing to pay him his next contract. But with no takers, the price tag may be dropping steadily as he creeps closer to free agency.

The Nuggets could buy in on Ingram and since they’ll likely be well over the second apron next season anyway, they might as well extend their own guys. So if they can add Ingram via trade, they can afford to keep him and add him to the core of Jokic, Murray, and Gordon.

Ingram would add a good amount of offensive creation and scoring in the midrange. If the Nuggets and Jokic could actually get him to shoot more threes, this deal could turn into a massive upgrade and they could unlock Ingram as a third star (he’s currently overtasked as the second guy in NOLA).