16. Denver Nuggets: Trading Donovan Mitchell
Of all the moves listed here, this one easily has the best chance to skyrocket up the list, into the top 10 or perhaps even the top 5.
It all depends on Mitchell. Right now, he’s an incredibly promising if inefficient combo guard that single-handedly revitalized the Utah franchise almost immediately after Gordon Hayward’s crushing departure. What he has meant to Utah already is enough to put this move up here, even if he never takes another leap as a player. If he winds up a multiple-time All-Star, it goes down as one of the great draft day miscalculations of all time.
That’s exactly what Denver did here: miscalculated.
They looked at their roster two summers ago and figured they already had their backcourt of the future in Gary Harris and Jamal Murray, plus Nikola Jokic, their de facto point guard. They didn’t need someone else who had to have the ball to be effective. It wasn’t nuts, especially when the main return in the deal, Trey Lyles, had shown signs of a promising future over his two years in Utah.
It hasn’t worked out. Lyles couldn’t get on the court for Denver in these playoffs, and the other player in the deal, Tyler Lydon, has scored 23 total points over two NBA seasons.
Denver will probably be alright regardless, but in a world where the Western Conference might now be up for grabs, the Nuggets may have missed their opportunity to separate themselves from the pack of would-be challengers.
That does it for the first half. As we head into the top 15, we’ll start including honorable mentions, as one will simply not be enough from here on in…