Beyond a slew of brutal injuries, the reconstituted Denver Nuggets have been sitting pretty this season.
At 23-11 on the year, the club currently occupies the fourth seed in the competitive Western Conference.
But it could be in for a bit of a freefall, as starters Nikola Jokic (left knee hyperextension), Cameron Johnson (left knee bone bruise), Aaron Gordon (right hamstring strain), Christian Braun (left ankle sprain), have all been sidelined with long-term ailments. Jokic’s backup, Jonas Valanciunas, will miss at least the next four weeks with a calf strain.
Only one of head coach David Adelman’s preferred starters, point guard Jamal Murray, is currently healthy.
"It sucks. It just adds a whole dynamic to the game, with so many guys out," Murray reflected on the state of the team, per Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. "You've just gotta focus on just bringing energy, playing hard, controlling what you can control, playing together, talking, being a leader. Playing aggressive, playing confident, trying to share that confidence. All those little things kind of go into, obviously, what a team is."
The ailments cast a pall over what has otherwise been a promising start to the Nuggets’ year. Denver has looked like a true-blue title contender after a summer of change.
With just three games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season, the Nuggets fired longtime head coach Michael Malone and championship team president Calvin Booth, replacing them with interim pieces. After Adelman led a depth-challenged Denver squad to a valiant seven-game second-round playoff series loss against the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder, he was named Malone’s permanent replacement. Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace were installed as the Nuggets’ new presidents.
Tenzer and Wallace made some critical summer moves to tweak Denver’s depth around its core of three-time MVP Jokic, Murray, and Gordon.
Most crucially, the Nuggets ditched pricey, injury-prone starting small forward Michael Porter Jr. in a trade to the Brooklyn Nets for the cheaper, more defensively oriented Johnson. Denver also traded for Valanciunas, after years of not (inexplicably) supplying Jokic with a reliable, traditionally-sized backup. The Nuggets also inked former 2023 championship-era reserve guard Bruce Brown and sharpshooting swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. to free agent deals.
Even before he was canned, Booth appreciated that a change was needed in Denver - and he, too, was looking to flip Porter.
Porter Was Almost A Chicago Bull
According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Nuggets came close to trading Porter to the Chicago Bulls for two-time All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine.
“The Bulls, sources say, were in serious discussions with the Nuggets last season about swapping LaVine for Porter,” Fischer reveals. “That actually seemed to be the preferred path for several voices in Denver’s front office.”
Chicago, too, was looking to make a change by getting rid of an offense-first veteran with a concerning injury history. It would eventually deal away LaVine to the Sacramento Kings at the February 2025 trade deadline.
Porter would have added size and scoring punch to head coach Billy Donovan’s pace-and-space offense. But this is a Bulls team that likely needs to be thoroughly rebuilt around core stars Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey. Adding an expensive, non-All-Star player in his prime fundamentally wouldn’t make much sense.
This year, Porter has been turning heads on a lottery-bound squad in Brooklyn. The 6-foot-10 University of Missouri product, 27, has been averaging 25.8 points on .496/.410/.812 shooting splits, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 0.9 steals a night.
The 8-27 Kings have been one of the league’s worst teams, with none of the Nets’ feel-good vibes. As Fischer mentions, many teams are now interested in trading for Porter, including - again - the Bulls. But Brooklyn has gone just 10-22. The club isn’t much better than Sacramento, it’s just got more upside thanks to its significant youth movement and this breakout Porter run.
LaVine would have added supplemental ball handling and elite scoring for Denver, but he’s a sieve on defense, has had frequent injury issues, and can be a bit of a ball-stopper. Still, while playing for a major Western Conference contender, it’s possible that the 6-foot-5 former Slam Dunk champ would have learned to grow into a true complementary role.
Newsweek