NBA Trade Rumors: 5 best destinations for Goran Dragic
By John Buhler
Denver Nuggets
West, Northwest
Tim Connelly has done a phenomenal job rebuilding the Denver Nuggets as their general manager. Owner Josh Kroenke has had the necessary patience to let Connelly gradually accumulate high-upside assets to set this basketball team up for future success.
Denver may only be 15-23 on the season, but only has the Nuggets 1.5 games out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Unlike division rival Portland whom they would have to likely overtake to get into the playoffs, Denver has an absurd number of assets to orchestrate any trade deadline deal it wants.
It’s still early, but the Nuggets may have somewhat of buyer’s remorse in drafting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay two years ago. He turns the ball over way too much and may not be the star that Connelly thought he drafted in 2015.
Spoelstra is a specialist in developing point guards. He may covet the high-upside potential in Mudiay in a trade for Dragic. If Denver isn’t done with Mudiay, but still wants Dragic for a postseason push, the Nuggets could offer up pretty everybody on the team not named Jamal Murray or Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets would be the ideal trade partner for the Heat to shop Dragic to. They could get a point guard back in Mudiay, guards like Gary Harris or Will Barton, and frontcourt studs like Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Jusuf Nurkic, or Wilson Chandler. The Nuggets also have picks out the wazoo.
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Conceivably, Miami may end up holding on to Dragic. However, if the Heat do part ways with their starting point guard, they have to like what they could potentially get for him from the Nuggets. Connelly will be best this NBA trade deadline. That’s for sure.