It's no secret that Zeke Nnaji has a contract that the Nuggets would love to get rid of. It's a sizeable amount for a player who is not going to crack the rotation. And it's a player-friendly contract. Getting another team to take Nnaji off the Nuggets' hands is going to cost the Nuggets something valuable. And, according to one NBA insider, it could potentially cost the Nuggets what they recently got. Draft capital. Or worse, a player the Nuggets value deeply.
That's the opinion of NBA insider Marc Stein, who joined the DNVR Sports podcast to talk about all things Nuggets. He laid it out pretty bluntly.
"I mean, if they keep (Peyton) Watson they're they're either going to be a second-apron team, or they're going to have to make another very unpopular move to shed salary unless there's a way to trade Zeke Nnaji somewhere and attach draft capital to him and move him," Stein said.
That's the harsh reality of Nnaji's contract. Not only is it for $7.4 million this year and next year, but that player option for 2027-28 that he will certainly exercise makes it even more complicated to trade.
The Nuggets just recently, finally, added draft capital
It would be bad enough to lose a player the Nuggets covet just to dump Nnaji's contract. But they could always try to attach what little draft capital they have in the hopes someone would absorb Nnaji, but they may not have enough, even though they just acquired more than they have had in a while.
On NBA Draft night, the Nuggets traded their 26th pick to the San Antonio Spurs for their 35th pick and two future second-round draft picks. That gave the Nuggets four future-second round picks to use as trade assets. The hope would be to improve with those assets, but now those may be what the Nuggets have to attach to dump Nnaji's salary.
Draft assets would be a better dump than a player
The Nuggets really shouldn't make a move like trading Aaron Gordon or Jamal Murray unless it really rebuilds the roster. Shedding some of your best players to avoid the second apron luxury tax should only be a last resort at the trade deadline if, for some reason, the Nuggets look like a failed playoff contender. But that isn't a likely situation.
So it would behoove the Nuggets to try their best to ditch the draft picks for now to dump Nnaji. It's the easier way, but it will still be difficult to find someone to absorb him.
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