For the second consecutive season, the Nuggets made no changes to their active roster at the NBA trade deadline.
Denver canvassed the league looking for an upgrade to its bench this week and was open to a frontcourt or backcourt acquisition, multiple league sources told The Denver Post, but the team was not able to find a suitable deal before the 1 p.m. MT deadline Thursday.
The Nuggets looked at a variety of trade options involving reserve big man Zeke Nnaji, whose salary is $8.9 million for the first season of a four-year rookie extension. But only one future draft pick was available for them to attach to Nnaji in potential deals: their 2031 first-rounder. Now that pick will remain stashed as an asset for future moves.
The Nuggets currently don’t have an open roster spot to pursue a roster addition on the buyout market, and as a first-apron team, they cannot sign a player who’s been bought out if his previous salary exceeds the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is $12.8 million this season.
As the deadline passed, Denver (32-19) was half a game back of third-place Houston in the Western Conference standings, in the midst of a four-game win streak.
When coach Michael Malone was asked Wednesday night if he thought the team had everything it needed, he said, “I think it’s been so hard to tell this year, because how often have we been fully healthy? How many games has Aaron Gordon missed? And then he gets back, and now Peyton (Watson) is out. And then Russ (Westbrook) is out. So it’s hard to truly know who we are, because of how many times we’ve been fully locked and loaded.
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“But I like how we’re playing. We’ve shown we can beat and compete with anybody in this league as currently constructed. And then obviously, Calvin (Booth) I’m sure is taking and making whatever calls he needs to make. But I’m going to coach this team. And I love the group that we have, and I believe this group.”
When three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic was asked the same question, he responded with a firm “yes.”
Denver has not made a significant trade deadline move since acquiring Gordon in 2021. The team’s most recent mid-season change to the roster was in 2023, when Bones Hyland and Davon Reed were shipped off in a deal that brought Thomas Bryant to Denver. The Nuggets also signed Reggie Jackson off the buyout market that season.
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