Strike 2: Of course the Denver Nuggets should try to acquire Kevin Durant. Duh.
Given the fact that Denver doesn’t have a GM or basketball ops guy in the front office (see Strike 1) it’s very unlikely they could manufacture the kind of blockbuster deal that it would take to bring the future hall of famer to take up residence at Ball Arena. But it’s still fun to think about. Just imagine if it was Durant and not Michael Porter Jr. starting for the Nuggets in this postseason? Who does not think they’d have taken out the Oklahoma City Thunder?
As basketball analyst Ric Bucher said recently, “For Kevin Durant? The idea of KD & Aaron Gordon working alongside Jokic with the Nuggets? I’d even trade Jamal Murray to make that happen.”
So should anyone who has watched the entire Nuggets roster – including Murray and the other starters – throw up a bunch of bricks during the few minutes of rest Nikola Jokic gets on a nightly basis. It’s not just the reserves that are the reason for Denver’s historically bad production without the big man on the floor, as their NBA second-worst -9.39 net rating shows. The fact is, Denver desperately needs another big time and consistent night-in and night-out scorer to take the load off their best player.
Durant would fill that role very nicely, thank you.
Yet there are a few “analysts” who don’t like the idea, saying that aside from giving up Murray – a high price indeed, but you have to give up something big to get something big in return – giving up younger players like Peyton Watson and or Julian Strawther would further deplete the Denver bench and make their biggest issue – depth – that much worse. That’s the big issue around the team in most people’s eyes.
But is it really? Is giving up Watson, who averaged eight points, just over three rebounds per game or Strawther, who averaged nine points and two rebounds per game, is that really giving up too much, or are those guys very replaceable?
Nuggets fans – like all other fans – tend to overvalue their own guys. The fact of the matter is that every single “reserve” on the Nuggets roster is very easily replaceable. Some more than others, of course, but former GM Calvin Booth’s failings have been on graphic display for the past two seasons. Christian Braun is the only Nuggets draft pick that has “hit” during the current decade. Booth took the GM gig in the summer of 2020.
Zeke Nnaji was Denver’s first-round pick that season, and inked a four-year, $32 million contract extension in October of 2023. Assuming someone would take on his overpriced contract, Nnaji is certainly replaceable. Strawther was acquired via a four-team draft day swap, but he was Booth’s guy in 2023. Same thing with Watson in 2022.
There are a lot of NBA journeyman players out there and available who can give the Nuggets better nightly production than those three.
And we won’t even bring up the rest of the wobbly bench.
Fact is, if somehow, someone in the Nuggets vacant front office was actually able to pull off a deal to bring Kevin Durant to Denver in exchange for Jamal Murray and who cares who else, the Nuggets would instantly become much better and could go out and sign very capable replacements to address the “depth” issue. Just as importantly, the load on the shoulders of Jokic would lighten considerably and he would finally have a chance to have an All-Star teammate.
It would be a miracle if this happened, but it would make the Nuggets one of the favorites to win next season’s NBA crown.
Strike 2: Getting Durant would make the Nuggets instant contenders Mile High Sports.
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