NBA Rumors: Nuggets will not trade Aaron Afflalo

The Denver Nuggets pulled off Thursday’s first big trade, sending shooting guard Evan Fournier and the 56th pick tonight to the Orlando Magic for shooting guard Aaron Afflalo. The deal was first reported by Yahoo Sports.

Considering there was a report that surfaced last week suggesting the Nuggets would acquire Afflalo from the Magic and then flip him, Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love, speculation immediately arose that something bigger was coming after this trade went down.

However, the Nuggets have no such plans and intend to keep Afflalo, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post.

"According to NBA sources, Afflalo will remain with the Nuggets. He will not be flipped in another trade with any other team, making him the frontrunner to be the Nuggets starting shooting guard next season."

While Afflalo might not be the star player the Nuggets desperately need to help get them back to being contenders in the Western Conference, they’re still coming away with one of the better shooting guards in the league here. And considering how little they had to part with to get him, it’s hard not to like this trade for Denver.

Afflalo is an outstanding defender and is coming off his most productive offensive season, in which he averaged 18.2 points on 45.9 percent shooting from the floor and 42.7 percent shooting from three.

Afflalo spent three seasons in Denver before heading to Orlando as a part of the trade that sent the Nuggets forward Andre Iguodala in 2012.