The Denver Nuggets are in the middle of playing for an NBA championship.
As a matter of fact, the Nuggets are only two wins away from winning a championship after a pretty incredible Game 3 from their two stars in Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic as well as a surprise standout performance from Christian Braun.
But somehow the Nuggets still found time to make a trade. Yep. You read that right.
The Denver Nuggets have reportedly made a trade. While in the middle of the NBA Finals. THE NBA FINALS, y’all. Offseason don’t stop, I guess?
The Nuggets are trading a future 2029 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a number of other draft picks, including a first-round pick in 2024, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
NBA Finals trade: The Denver Nuggets are acquiring the least favorable of Oklahoma City's first-round picks in 2024, the 37th pick in the 2023 draft and 2024 second-round pick for a protected 2029 first-round, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 9, 2023
I’m not sure how many times we’ve ever seen something like this.
Normally, when the postseason starts, all transaction news is pretty much saved for the end of June going into July. We especially don’t see this typically happen with a team in the middle of the NBA Finals.
It confused a whole bunch of people on the internet, to be sure. But, honestly, when you take a step back and consider everything going on right now, the trade is a pretty smart one despite being extremely weird.
Let’s dive into why.
Here's what's going on
Alright, here’s the layout of the trade from Woj.
NBA Finals trade: The Denver Nuggets are acquiring the least favorable of Oklahoma City's first-round picks in 2024, the 37th pick in the 2023 draft and 2024 second-round pick for a protected 2029 first-round, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 9, 2023
The Thunder are trading the least favorable of their four first-round picks in the 2024 NBA draft, the 37th pick in the 2023 NBA draft and a second-round pick in the 2024 NBA draft for a future 2029 first-round pick from the Denver Nuggets.
A rare NBA Finals trade, y’all. The NBA. Where weird stuff happens.
But it makes sense — especially for Denver
Yes, the Nuggets are certainly focused on the NBA Finals right now, but that’s exactly why they need to make this trade.
Denver has to maximize the window that they’ve got Nikola Jokic in. He’s the best player in the NBA. He’s going to be this good for a number of years. But this team is going to get super expensive super fast.
A quick look at Denver’s salary cap table shows us a few things about their core:
- Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. are the only members of the team’s best 4 players signed beyond the 2025-26 season.
- Jamal Murray is extension eligible and will probably get something done this offseason in Denver.
- Aaron Gordon has a player option for about $23 million that he’ll probably opt out of for the 2025-26 season, so he’ll likely be a free agent after next year.
Outside of those core four players, Bruce Brown becomes a free agent this offseason. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope becomes one next year. This team is going to have to go deep into the luxury tax to stay together.
Why does going into the luxury tax matter?
It matters because of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. The league and the NBA Player’s Association agreed to a new deal in the midst of this season that implements more punitive penalties for teams like the Warriors, Clippers and others that choose to spend deep into the tax.
There are two salary cap aprons that teams have to make note of, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“The first apron is set at $7 million above the luxury-tax level in each season of the CBA (so $169 million for 2023-24), and the second apron is set at $17.5 million above the tax threshold (or $179.5 million). In future seasons, all of those numbers will rise at the same rate.”
That matters because once teams pass that second luxury tax apron, they’ll lose access to key roster-building tools like the NBA’s taxpayer mid-level exception. They also will be prevented from signing players who have been waived during the season if that player’s previous salary was larger than the midlevel exception.
Basically, if you’re a taxpaying team, you won’t be able to improve your team much from the start of the season outside of veteran minimum signings.
Denver, as a taxpaying team, will be one of those teams.
Here's why those picks matter
When the Nuggets inevitably go into the luxury tax, they won’t have access to the same roster-building tools that helped them get names like, say, Bruce Brown this season.
As an alternative, though, the Nuggets will try to improve their roster on the margins using the NBA draft.
That 2024 pick could be a good one depending on how things shake out for the Thunder next season. The 37th pick is a high second-round pick that could turn into a useful player. That 2024 second-rounder could be the same. These picks provide players on the margins that are under contract for a few years, at least, that might be able to develop while the Nuggets still play winning basketball.
It’s certainly not ideal for contending teams to have to depend so much on rookies, but that’s where this current CBA has left the league. The Nuggets are just doing their best to get ahead of it — even in the middle of the NBA Finals.
It’s weird. But it’s brilliant team building.
