BREAKING: NBA Columnist Reveals Top Offseason Trade Targets for Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets will be on the hunt for upgrades around Nikola Jokic.
The Denver Nuggets came very close to exceeding the playoff expectations they had. After swapping coaches late into the year, many did not expect much from the team. That quickly changed.
The Nuggets pushed the NBA title favorites, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to seven games in their second-round series. Denver was rewarded with a brutal 125-93 beatdown for their efforts.
With a back-to-back second round exits for the Nuggets, many continue to identify just how much the roster has fallen off over the past couple of seasons. The need to improve the team around Nikola Jokic is obvious to anyone watching.
Dec 1, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) against Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) at Footprint Center.
© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Top trade targets for Nuggets have been identified
In the efforts of not wasting another year of Jokic’s prime, the Nuggets will have to get to work, improving their roster with a limited amount of assets available to them. Even the best player in the world still needs a proper supporting cast.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report identified the players he believed should be at the top of the list for the Nuggets this offseason. Two of those players offered to address the obvious need for depth. The other one was a franchise-altering pursuit.
Buckley pinpointed Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic as a player who can finally offer the Nuggets a quality backup center behind Jokic. This option would lessen the load for a superstar who played a career high in minutes per game this season.
Royce O’Neale was another player who Buckley believed was worth the look. The two-way forward would fill a need and was described as ‘obtainable.’
The last name on the list was Kevin Durant.
“If you’re building an offseason wish list, you might as well dream big,” Buckley said of Durant. “Is a Durant deal likely for Denver? Not at all. That said, it hardly feels impossible.”
The Nuggets will have a lot of work to do this offseason. Depending on how bold the organization is with their approach, even a player like Durant is not entirely out of the question.