This should drive Nuggets fans crazy
Denver Nuggets v Washington Wizards | Patrick Smith/GettyImages
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Nuggets were interested in a trade target and ultimately came up short. We’ve seen reports that the team was monitoring or keeping tabs on different players like Dorian Finney-Smith and Nick Richards before they were moved to other teams.
Those certainly aren’t superstars but they are solid, rotation players who would have been huge boons to the Denver lineup. Either one of a big 3&D wing like DFS and an actual reliable backup center like Richards would have been massive upgrades for the Nuggets but nothing has come to fruition thus far.
There has been no solid reporting on what the Nuggets offered, or if talks ever even reached the point of an offer. But in both cases, the players were acquired for multiple second-round picks, and on Wednesday, it happened again.
Jonas Valanciunas traded to Kings for two 2nd-round picks
On Wednesday afternoon, veteran big man Jonas Valanciunas was traded from the Washington Wizards to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for two second-round picks. NBA Insider Jake Fischer reported shortly after that the Nuggets were “Very much involved in pursuing the big man”.
It’s two second-round picks to Washington for Jonas Valanciunas, sources said. Denver was very much involved in pursuing the big man from the Wizards, as were the Suns in Phoenix’s efforts to find a new home for Jusuf Nurkic. https://t.co/iWaPS9dvz7
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) February 5, 2025
Valanciunas would’ve been an excellent backup center for the Nuggets who could capably handle backup minutes for Nikola Jokic and even spare the MVP some nights off down the stretch. But alas, the Nuggets weren’t able to make this trade for a familiar reason.
Nuggets pursuit of Valanciunas thwarted by lack of draft picks
We’re seeing it time and again, role players are being moved for second-round picks, and the Nuggets don’t have any. It’s pretty simple to see that Denver is completely handicapped on the trade market by their lack of draft capital.
The Nuggets have traded away every single second-round pick they’re allowed to deal, including most recently swapping three to the Suns to move up six spots in the 2024 draft and dealing another three to the Hornets just to dump Reggie Jackson’s contract.
Surely, Calvin Booth can’t offer the lone remaining first-round pick (2031), so with zero second-rounders, the best he can reasonably offer in the way of draft capital is conditional pick-swaps down the road.
Combine that with the fact that the Nuggets don’t have any prospects who aren’t in the rotation, so the best they can do for an upgrade is a bad contract for Zeke Nnaji or Dario Saric and hypothetical pick swaps.
That’s a completely unappealing package and that’s why we’re seeing the Nuggets strike out. They can keep dreaming of upgrading the roster, and it’s clear how necessary that is, but Calvin Booth’s mismanagement of assets is making it extremely difficult to envision a trade that makes a drastic difference.