After earning a spot in the 2020 Western Conference Finals, the Denver Nuggets made a huge splash during the 2021 NBA trade deadline.
Hungry to build on the success they had last season, Denver’s front office made a push to land Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic as well as two-time NBA champion JaVale McGee from the Cleveland Cavaliers. They also acquired Gary Clark, a sneaky good role player, to the mix.
While the organization surrendered longtime starter Gary Harris as well as promising prospect RJ Hampton in the deal, they maintained much of the depth necessary to make another run in the postseason later this year.
Denver came into the season with some excellent star power behind MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and a stellar guard in Jamal Murray. They maintain excellent upside with the firepower of Michael Porter Jr. as well.
With all three on the floor, the Nuggets have outscored opponents by 13.1 points per 100 possessions this year. That ranks as the second-best among three-man groups in the Western Conference that have played at least 600 minutes together thus far in 2020-21.
But they also have Will Barton, Paul Millsap and Monte Morris – all of whom are reliable veterans who play well within their roles. So when you add Gordon and McGee to that already strong core, you suddenly have one of the deepest rosters in the NBA.
As such, below, we have broken down the new group for the Nuggets as they prepare to make a playoff push.
The league is moving more and more towards positionless basketball. Note that we define “guards” as the playmakers and primary initiators, “wings” as the versatile athletes who can typically play somewhere between two through four and “bigs” as the main frontcourt threat.