The Denver Nuggets were a game away from playing in their second Western Conference Finals in the last three seasons. Instead, they lost to the newly crowned NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in the second round of the playoffs.
The NBA offseason is now fully underway, and we have already seen a ton of movement. This summer is expected to be full of change, and the Nuggets will do their best to retool with the best player in the world on their side, Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets are heading into the offseason needing to bolster their roster to return to the mountaintop. While that is the case, if the Nuggets do what they can to bolster their roster, there is a chance they will end up a second-apron team. That's the last place the Nuggets want to be, which is why they decided to let go of their guard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, last offseason.
Nuggets president Josh Kroenke spoke to the media on Tuesday and offered a bizarre quote regarding Jokic's future with the team if they happen to make a trade and enter the second apron.
"I think that, for us as an organization, going into that second apron is not something that we're scared of. I think that there are rules around it that we need to be very careful of with our injury history," Kroenke said. "The wrong person gets injured and very quickly you're into a scenario that I never want to have to contemplate and that's trading No. 15. And so, we're very conscious of that pushing forward and providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives. But that second apron, is it a hard cap? I'm not 100% sure, but it's something that teams are obviously very aware of going forward."
Kroenke admitted that he was scared for his team to enter the second apron, but moments later, he shocked fans by mentioning Jokic 's name in a potential trade.
Trading away Jokic would be disastrous, and the thought of it is just as bad. The 30-year-old superstar has exceeded expectations after bringing a second-round draft pick 10 years ago.
Jokic has been everything for the Nuggets, and if he ever becomes available for a trade, the other 29 teams would throw the kitchen sink at the three-time MVP.
As things stand, the challenge for Denver this offseason is to upgrade its roster without getting into any trouble down the line.
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