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Hope vs. Fear as Denver approaches the Trade Deadline: Where the Nuggets Really Stand

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“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

– Nelson Mandela

I was stuck between the slightly-less-common rock and a hot place recently when making a decision about relocating my life (again) just a few months ago, and the Nelson Mandela quote above just kept running through my mind. Though I was really resistant to a move, all of the reasons to stay were rooted in fear. Fear of loss, fear of change, fear of ceding proximity to my nearest and dearest. While my new desert destination has never been a favorite, all of the reasons to make the leap were rooted in hope. New possibilities, new opportunities, new beginnings. In the end, I picked up my tired-ass ass, packed up my just-enough stuff, and took a bit of a southwestern leap. A few months into this new adventure, Mandela’s advice has still never steered me wrong.

The Denver Nuggets have some big decisions of their own to make, most of them seeming pretty hopeful, even if those hopes are aimed in slightly different directions. With the trade deadline less than a week away (Thursday the 5th at 1 p.m. Denver time), there are some choices coming the Nuggets front office might feel compelled to make.

If you want an even deeper dive into all of these possibilties and more, many of the DNVR Nuggets studs retweeted Jake Coyne’s (TheStatSquatch) excellent exploration of several scenarios on what is most likely coming down the trade deadline pipeline for Denver this next week, and if you haven’t already stumbled across it, it surely influenced how I was wrapping my arms around so many open options. Not to be missed.

With one week to go until the trade deadline, I have put together a small primer on how the deadline might look for the Nuggets. In it, we go over:

-Luxury / repeater tax

-Spencer Jones

-Peyton Watson

-Mock trades

Link to download / read: https://t.co/iXQtq8qwbQ

— Jake Coyne (@TheStatSquatch) January 29, 2026

Most of the folks smarter than me about this (like Jake) agree there’s probably nothing earth-shaking coming down the pipe for Denver, but if there is one candidate for something richter-scaled, it would be the possible trade of suddenly-super Peyton Watson. While the Nuggets gents in charge have only said that their fondest hopes are to retain Peyton’s services, they have also put themselves in a slightly precarious position with his pending entrance into restricted free agency at season’s end. While a betting man would guess that Swatson will be with the Nuggets through at least this season, here’s one guy also betting that at least a couple teams will have reached out to see what kind of a package might pry him away earlier than any of us might have hoped. With their remarkable rookie offseason reconfiguration of the team, here’s also also betting co-GMs Tenzer and Wallace would at least give some tempting offers a listen.

Maybe more possible, and still pretty room-rattling, is the Nuggets possibly finding a way to shed the salary and still-longish deal attached to Zeke Nnaji’s contract. While the number of years and number of dollars for Zeke have long seemed Denver’s most onerous deal, he’s played some of the best ball of his career in the last month, and might hold some appeal for a team in the right mode of growth or needs to shore up and spend. If it does turn out that Nnaji is shipped out, there’s still a solid chance Denver might decide to sweeten the deal with some of the pieces in the next group of possibles…

Sounding far more likely, and far less temblor-y, is the possibility of someone less involved in Denver’s probable playoff rotation being traded to dump some salary and get them away from aprons and luxury taxes. With the Nuggets proximity to all those possible problematic restrictions, expect them to shed the salaries of someone in the group of Hunter Tyson, Julian Strawther, or Jalen Pickett. Pickett seems least likely as you could see him figuring into Denver’s playoff plans, and Strawther admittedly saw playoff action last year, but in a role now firmly locked down by veteran Tim Hardaway, Jr. Any one of those three guys traded away for the correct considerations give Denver some breathing room away from the second apron and give them their first step away from the repeater tax. It also gives them a better opportunity to convert the two-way contract of the surprising Spencer Jones and still stay within the lines.

If you’re as hopeful as I am about what’s coming along this way, or even it’s got you scared to death, you’ll be wanting to track whatever drama from these possibilities comes down the pipe. The best place for you to see the news and hear the expert opinions on all things Nuggets trade deadline is unsurprisingly right here with Adam, Harrison, Brendan, Dev, Eric, and Kalle bringing you DNVR’s Trade Deadline Tracker. While there’s next to no chance Denver will do anything to mortgage their immediate playoff future, let’s see if Ben and Jon have another something up their sleeves to improve the long term prospects. With so many possibilities, they can afford to make their choices based on their hopes, not their fears.

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