NBA Trade Deadline: Nuggets trade Randy Foye to Thunder

The Denver Nuggets have traded Randy Foye to the Oklahoma City Thunder for D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak and two second-round draft picks ahead of the NBA trade deadline.

The Detroit Pistons were making a sudden name for themselves with some good trades to acquire Tobias Harris, Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton while sacrificing very little, but now the Nuggets have joined the conversation of NBA trade deadline steals. In exchange for Randy Foye, who only played 19.8 minutes per game for them this season while shooting 35.1 percent, they’ve hauled in multiple assets from the Thunder.

Initially, Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post reported that the Thunder had landed Foye, which sounded like a promising deal to give them another shooter (regardless of his inconsistency so far this season).

Then, the pieces the Thunder sent to the Nuggets emerged which made the deal look far worse. To bring in Foye, OKC gave up D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak and two second-round draft picks (according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports).

While Foye at his best may have more to offer in terms of shooting than Augustin, losing so much doesn’t seem worthwhile from the Thunder’s perspective. Novak is an afterthought as he hardly appears off the bench, but Augustin was a solid backup and two draft picks (despite being low due to how good OKC are) still seems like a lot to lose for someone like Foye — who’s hardly going to revolutionize their backcourt over someone like Dion Waiters.

While the future of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook is unclear and it’s still likely they’ll stay put until we hear something else, if they suddenly leave in free agency those two picks rapidly increase in value. Without two stars as valuable as Durant and Westbrook, OKC won’t have the same record and may regret losing two picks for no more than Foye.

Of course, this is just one possibility that’s a long way off. But regardless of their future, two picks and a respectable player like Augustin is too much for Foye. In this trade, the Nuggets clearly won.