Does this trade make sense for the Denver Nuggets?
Obviously, if Damian Lillard becomes available in trade talks, every team around the NBA will be interested in trading for him, including the Nuggets, but they do not necessarily need him to be successful. Yes, I just said that the Denver Nuggets do not need Damian Lillard in order to be a championship contender.
This organization has done a great job of drafting and developing talents over the years and you can clearly see this by the rise Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have made over their years in Denver. At full strength, this team can compete with anyone in the league and when Murray got hurt last year, this team was in the midst of winning 17 of their last 21 games.
Jokic is playing at the highest level of his career and is only getting better at 26-years-old, the same goes for Murray, and with a ton of depth on this roster, there is really no reason why Denver cannot continue building their championship roster in-house.
Both Zeke Nnaji and rookie Nah’Shon Hyland are going to get their chances to shine this season and when you look at their roster as a whole, Denver may be one of the most complete and deepest teams in the league. Their full second-unit (when healthy) of Monte Morris/Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers, P.J. Dozier, Jeff Green/JaMychal Green, and Bol Bol is just as good, if not better than the other benches around the NBA.
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Of course, adding Lillard to this team and substituting him in for Murray makes the Denver Nuggets a better team talent-wise, but their chemistry would likely be off. Lillard is a very ball-dominant player and through the years in Portland, everything on offense always goes through him.
In Denver, Nikola Jokic is this guy for the Nuggets and they are not going to change this philosophy, especially after Jokic just won the MVP award last season. This team has a good thing going for them right now and while adding another All-Star talent could very well set them over the edge in the Western Conference, Jamal Murray and not far behind him, Michael Porter Jr. are future All-Star players.
The Denver Nuggets are definitely trending in the right direction and right now, the best thing they can do for themselves is to continue developing their young talents on this roster and continuing to find ways to improve their overall chemistry with one another.
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Shaking up this roster in a big way would force the Denver Nuggets to take a step back from what they have been doing over the years, even if they do in fact trade for a guy like Damian Lillard.
