The Nuggets weren’t able to pull off a trade on the first night of the NBA Draft, but the Suns and Hornets were, as Mark Williams was sent to Phoenix with two first-round picks headed back to Charlotte. But a smaller part of this deal was the Suns sending Vasilije Micic back to the Hornets, someone the Nuggets should be inquiring about right away.
Micic is an older point guard who has spent most of his career dominating the EuroLeague but came over to the NBA a few years ago. He has had some nice moments and shows he can competently run an offense. Perhaps more importantly, he hails from Serbia and has a friendship with Nikola Jokic, as the two have been teammates on the Serbian National Team for years.
Nuggets need damage control after disastrous press conference
It’s never a bad idea to try and appease your best players when possible, but that’s more true than ever for the Nuggets right now after their now-infamous press conference on Tuesday, where Josh Kroenke went viral for all the wrong reasons.
The team owner wondered aloud whether or not Jokic would sign an extension with the team, then went on to say that if the team’s payroll was over the second apron, they’d be one injury away from contemplating trading Jokic.
They were bizarre and completely unnecessary comments. They’ve been all over social media and even made their way to the talking heads on ESPN and First Take. This may be innocuous, but now it’s a story, and it’s an infuriating one for Nuggets fans to have to listen to for no reason.
The organization needs to show some love to the Joker and make sure his heart is still in Denver. Trading for his Serbian buddy would be a good way to throw Jokic a bone while also bolstering the team’s depth at a position of need.
Micic trade is actually realistic
Furthermore, given the Nuggets’ extremely limited assets, it’s important to note that Micic is actually attainable. He’s a fine backup role player, but little more at this point. He was already in Charlotte, and they dealt him to Phoenix last season, opting to lean fully into a youth movement.
But now Micic has wound up back in Charlotte less than a year later, and he’s sure to face the same roadblocks. There is no reason for the Hornets to want to keep him, but to make this deal work, the Suns had to pick up his $8.1 million team option and ship him to the Hornets.
There won’t be much of a trade market for him, if any, and the Nuggets have an almost perfectly matching contract in Zeke Nnaji. Nnaji is a player the contending Nuggets want no part of, but the rebuilding Hornets should welcome. He can get minutes in a shallow Charlotte frontcourt, and maybe he can have a resurgence.
The Nuggets get veteran ballhandling off the bench and get to make their best player happy in the process. This is a win-win deal that’s now possible thanks to a draft night trade that didn’t even involve the Nuggets.