Report: Nuggets targeting disaster trade involving Michael Porter Jr.

The Denver Nuggets are toying with the idea of a massive trade and it would shake up the team in all the worst ways.

Multiple reports and reporters have linked the Nuggets to a hodgepodge of players including Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, Jordan Poole, Jordan Clarkson, De’Andre Hunter, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas. At the higher end of this list are some former All-Stars while at the lower end are some really solid role players. Nonetheless, almost all of these players make enough money that the Nuggets would be forced to ship out Michael Porter Jr. to make the deal work, which would be a disaster.

At 14-10, the Nuggets are off to a similar start to the season as their past two, but many would acknowledge that the team appears to have bigger flaws. Some disagree on the main problems and how to solve them but the issues range from a lack of three-point shooting to point-of-attack defense to backup big minutes to bench scoring. One thing that should be addressed before Denver looks into any of their on-court shortcomings is Calvin Booth. The team’s general manager’s contract is up at season’s end. The Nuggets can not risk the rest of their championship window around Nikola Jokic on a short-sighted move by Booth, who may be trying to save his job. Either the Nuggets want Booth here for the long term and they should extend him like they have flirted with in the past and he could make any move he sees as best both for the present and future, or it’s time to put the kibosh on any major dealings until the front office leader is clear.

The Nuggets biggest issue seems to come down to math. The team is last in the NBA in three-point shot attempts (729,) taking 126 fewer shots from deep than the 29th-place 76ers (855.) The difference between Denver and Philly is more than the difference between Philly and 14th-place Atlanta (959.) They are not generating enough threes and making enough, even if the team’s seventh-best in percentage from behind the arc.

The Nuggets are also struggling to clear the defensive glass, ranking a poor 24th in the league with a 74% defensive rebound rate. The two biggest strengths of MPJ’s game are shooting and rebounding. The 6-foot-10 forward has paced Denver with shot attempts from deep the last three seasons while cashing at a 40% clip. He’s also been second-best on the team in defensive rebounding behind Jokic over the past three seasons.

Any deal that attempts to solve the Nuggets lack of three-point shooting and struggles to rebound while dumping MPJ is simply doing the opposite of what it has set out to do. The list of players this season shooting at least six threes a game while getting at least five and a half defensive rebounds is 10 players long with some of the league’s best players: Porter, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, Kevin Durant, Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero and Miles Bridges. And that’s not even to mention that Porter is championship-proven, his chemistry with the team is known and he’s absolutely bought into his role. And just to hammer this point home, in Jokic’s career the Nuggets outscore their opponents by 10.9 points per 100 possessions with Porter but only 7.2 when the MVP is without MPJ.

There are 10 players in the NBA who are shooting 6 or more threes a game this season while getting 5.5 defensive rebounds.

Seven of these players are All-Stars, one is a former No. 1 overall pick who will be an All-Star this season, one is evil and one is MPJ.

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— Jake Shapiro (@shapalicious.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 5:25 PM

Now the strange quirk of the Nuggets contract situation and new CBA is that of the core four players in Denver it’s only Porter and Jokic who could be moved this season.  If you believe that Jamal Murray is no longer a good enough No. 2 next to Jokic, Porter is the only player the Nuggets can move to pair another next to Nikola and demote Murray to No. 3. But the top options on the reported list of LaVine and Ingram aren’t much better than Murray anyway. For those concerned about injuries, Murray has played more than both the last seasons, he throws more assists, gets more steals and shots better from deep, adding up to the best advanced statistics of the trio. LaVine is the best scorer of the three while Ingram’s size plus some decent passing makes him an intriguing option. Though LaVine has won one playoff game in his 11-year career and Ingram two in nine seasons. Neither guy has the medal that Murray has. Demoting Murray to the No. 3 in Denver and in turn upsetting some of the decade’s long two-man chemistry with Jokic is unwise. Though bringing in either LaVine or Ingram to be a No. 3 is fun in theory there’s no guarantee that you will get the buy-in from those players like the Nuggets have gotten from Porter and in the past Aaron Gordon. Plus, both players give Denver even further defensive issues than they have now and would force Murray to be even more active on that end.

In a vacuum, LaVine is a really nice player and likely the most talented player Jokic could ever play with, but the fit just isn’t right. With just a few months left on Ingram’s deal and no team ever really wanting him, the Nuggets getting him would end any serious shot they had at another ring. Poole is laughable to even consider so that’s not worth exploring. In addition to all of these factors, getting any of these higher-end salary players further limits future flexibility which was spelled out as the main reason for letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk, which is where a lot of these issues have stemmed from.

For Denver, specifically, I’m not sure Zach LaVine is a clear upgrade over Michael Porter.

MPJ is 5 inches taller and 3 years younger. He doesn’t need the ball and doesn’t fuss about a lack of shots. He’s a better rebounder and has years of chemistry with the Nuggets core. pic.twitter.com/RsApCnY9on

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) December 18, 2024

Where things start to get interesting for Booth and the Nuggets is in the lower salaries or splitting off MPJ’s contract for multiple players. Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are playoff-proven wings who both shoot threes and stop them on the other end. While Clarkson and Valanciunas make less money to the point where MPJ wouldn’t even have to be traded. In theory, Denver could flip Zeke Nnaji’s bad contract, a young player, and their lone tradable first-round pick out in 2031 for either of those players in hopes of adding bench scoring or big depth.

The Nuggets starting five is still really good and the core is locked in for a few more years—the chances of another championship in Denver are likely raised by not making a big move this season but waiting it out till next summer. Even still, the Nuggets can and should make moves around the periphery to bolster their chances. Getting a player like Finney-Smith from Brooklyn without moving MPJ is where the Nuggets head should be. Though it is worth noting that not only this week but this offseason they were reportedly flirting with trading for Paul George, so Denver may be on the verge of a big shakeup no matter how misguided that is.