The Denver Nuggets will be selling at the Feb. 23 trade deadline, and among the players they have made available is third-year center Jusuf Nurkic.
ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that the Nuggets are “openly shopping” the former first-round pick. Stein adds that Kenneth Faried, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler could also be on the block.
Nurkic, the 16th overall pick in 2014, has fallen out of the starting lineup recently after starting the first 25 games of the season. The Bosnian seven-footer has come off the bench the past five games as head coach Mike Malone has chosen to start 21-year-old Nikola Jokic, who has been playing at a high level this season. Taken in the second round of the same draft that produced Nurkic, Jokic has flashed star potential. The 6-foot-10 Serbian is averaging 13.1 points and 7.8 rebounds while dishing out 3.8 assists per game.
Nurkic, meanwhile, is averaging 9.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. Denver, Stein points out, was in serious talks to acquire All-Star forward Paul Millsap from the Atlanta Hawks last summer and is known to be interested again. Perhaps the Nuggets could swing a trade with Nurkic involved in a package deal. At just 22 years of age, Nurkic is still developing his game and might be worth taking a flyer on.
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