Denver Nuggets 'would love' to make move for $45M guard

The NBA trade deadline is just over two weeks away and the Denver Nuggets are reportedly interested in a reunion with Bruce Brown.

According to Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes and NBA insider Marc Stein, Denver "would love" to find a way to bring back a key piece of their title team from last season.

"I was told that the Denver Nuggets would love to have Bruce Brown back, but again, they're in a similar situation like Milwaukee, where they just don’t have the picks to try to do that," Haynes said on a recent episode of the #thisleague Uncut podcast. "But Bruce Brown knows how they feel, from what I've been told. That’s something to keep an eye on even down the road."

Stein later echoed that same information, but doubled down on how difficult it would actually be for the Nuggets to piece together the assets to land him.

It's nearly impossible for the Denver Nuggets to trade for Bruce Brown

Brown left Denver over the summer, when he signed a two-year $45 million contract to join the Indiana Pacers. The departure was amicable as there was simply no way that the Nuggets could pay him that sort of money with the NBA's salary cap.

Just last week, the Pacers dealt Brown to the Toronto Raptors as part of the trade that sent Pascal Siakam to Indy. However, it doesn't sound like Toronto is going to be the forever home for the Boston native.

Multiple reports have indicated that the Raptors are looking to reroute him elsewhere in exchange for future assets.

Sadly, Brown likely won't be rerouted back to Denver.

In order for the Nuggets to legally trade for the 27-year-old, they'd have to find a way to send back enough salary to match his $22.5 million annual paycheck. Denver simply does not have the room to do that.

The majority of the team's payroll is invested in their starting five of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and Kentavious Caldwell Pope. None of those guys are going anywhere ahead of the deadline, they're just not.

No other Nuggets player will earn more than $5 million this season, so there really isn't an avenue for them to bring back Brown.