The Denver Nuggets are hovering around the final playoff spot in the west and things could get much tougher for the team now that JaVale McGee and Nate Robinson are out for the year, meaning deals involving Kenneth Faried, Andre Miller or Ty Lawson could go down and some names on the radar includes Kyle Lowry or Thaddeus Young.
According to Yahoo Sports, all those names are in play for the Nuggets now that McGee is likely out for the year with a stress fracture and this comes as Nate Robinson and Danilo Gallinari are also injured and out for the season. The Nuggets won over 50 games last seqason and were looking like a sleeper team in the west, but instead they lost to the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs and ended up blowing things up, getting a new general manager and head coach after George Karl was let go and Masai Ujiri jumped to the Toronto Raptors, who have been playing surprisingly well this season.
Ujiri helped turn the Nuggets around once before and ESPN.com reports that he could do it again. An Insider piece suggests that Kyle Lowry could be a solid option for the team, as he has an expiring deal and he could help piece things together with Andre Miller likely getting traded and that also would enable Ujiri to get something for him instead of letting him walk as a free agent. The Raptors best trading chip is Lowry and Ujiri is looking to balance the fact that they are playing well with his plans about rebuilding.
The Nuggets are in a tough spot with Andre Miller and all their injuries and now they are dealing with another star player going down and this comes after he averaged 10 points and five rebounds last season and he was expected to be one of the main players for the team this season. McGee is making over $10 million in each of the next two seasons and it will be tough for the Nuggets to do anything this year with those three players out for the season. McGee had played in five games before dealing with the stress fracture and now that could keep him out until next season starts.
The Nuggets are ranked in the top 10 in scoring, but their defense has been terrible and they are also dealing with the Andre Miller situation, as he has been disgruntled and looks like he will be dealt. The team could also move Faired, as he was mentioned in numerous trade rumors over the summer and during the season the Nuggets and Knicks talked a deal before New York backed off.
