Rocky business Take 2-- UTA/DEN

[Mavrelous]

DEN trade:
MPJ
Naji
Saric
31 unprotected

UTA trade:
Collins
Sexton
Lowest pick they have in 27 (They have 4 that year)

Denver:
Move Strawther to the starting shooter role
Collins backuu 4/5
This Sexton is better than Murray and provudes much meeded bemch scoring.
Low 1st to use for trades

UTA:
Gamble on high profile shooter, eat some bad salary, and get unprotected 1st.

[Godaddycurse]

Dont think thats enough value for Utah, unless MPJ can be spun to a 3rd team for another pick

[BelgradeNugget]

Bad for Denver. MPJ was a starting SF for championship winning team. He is having the best season in his career as an all around player. He is not a problem in Denver and is the best player in this trade.

Strawther is borderline unplayable because of how bad as defender he is rn. He is geting minutes because they hope he can improve on that side of the ball untill playoffs. NETRTG -13.3, by far the worst among players that play with Jokic (not counting backup Cs). Nuggets were much better last season when they replaced his minutes with Justin Holiday.

Collins is terrible defender also, treadmil team - Hawks couldn't get rid of him. Sexton is better than Murray rn, not because he is good but because Murray is so bad. Players having good numbers on bad teams are not good players ready to contribute to championship winning team, because of those numbers.

[mg]

I was messing around with a similar type deal on the trade checker. I think this deal kills 2 birds with one stone for Denver. MPJ is a poor defender himself so the Nuggets don't really lose anything on that end of the court. Collins is 27 and Sexton is 25 so they are young enough to play with Jokic for the foreseeable future. Outside of MPJ they really don't have much movable salary except for Nnaji who they would need to attach with picks/prospect to get anything decent in return.

Is MPJ at 26 already too old for a Utah rebuild team that will be tanking for the next 2 drafts? Probably.

[Mavrelous]

The idea is for Denver to sacrifice overpaid starter for 2 bench player one of them is also overpaid.
Collins contract isn't hot, MPJ isn't either.
Utah is missing a PG, by this trade they close the SF poisition on a young elite shooter with size.

[babyjax13]

I like the upside of that pick and the fit of MPJ, but I don't want to do anything that could affect the tank. MPJ+Lauri might work really well and pull us out of the area we are with draft position. Denver needs depth, but I think they can do better with MPJ and the first.

[Ell Curry]

It looks like there's about 5M in space for Denver to work with here, so maybe the 2027 1st can be re-routed to a 3rd team added to the trade and a credible cheap SF sent to Denver? Right now, I think this leaves them short a wing starter.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker would fit if Minnesota either can't pay him this summer or would be down to move him for a pick or use the pick in some sort of trade (presumably involving Randle?).

Agbaji fits, but I'm not sure the Raptors do this deal. Maybe if Denver adds in Holmes then I could see it. They took Walter over Holmes, so maybe not, but if they expect to draft a wing and keep RJ Barrett and see Walter as a solid backup type at least, then they'd have 4 wings (Dick and Walter, RJ and their own 2025 1st) and Holmes would be the long-term Olynyk backup stretch 5 replacement. Not sure that excites Denver, but Murray-Braun-Agbaji-Gordon-Jokic with Sexton, Collins leading the bench and Westbrook, Watson and Strawther as situational guys in the 8-10 spots looks like maybe just enough for Jokic to maybe get it done if things break right.

Finney-Smith would be good but he makes too much.

Jacquez if Miami prefers a 1st to him makes some sense, but he's not a good shooter so maybe not a great fit next to Gordon.

Vince Williams from Memphis looked like a solid wing and they might prefer a 1st with GG Jackson also looking promising meaning they don't have a huge hole on the wing. He's been hurt, but this one works okay.

Moody would have made sense pre-extension, but now I can't imagine that works under the cap with Denver's apron stuff.

Jalen Wilson has looked okay. Denver would need more, but maybe with Sharpe and a 2nd rounder? Starting 5 is worse, but a backup center would also help. Feels light for Denver, though. Probably makes more sense to just keep MPJ and hope Murray gets healthier and you can find a backup 5 on the scrap heap this summer or Holmes gets healthy and is a passable backup 5 due to his shooting/spacing.

TLDR: The idea of moving MPJ for a backup big and Murray insurance makes sense, but there has to be a passable SF involved. Maybe find a way to get Finney-Smith in the deal and one of Sexton or Collins goes to a 3rd team and a 10 (if sexton) or 15M (if Collins) player comes back to Denver as the new scoring 6th man or backup 4/5.