It was announced by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN around 10:30 MST on Monday morning that the Denver Nuggets had agreed to trade Forward JaMychal Green and a protected 2027 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the 30th selection in this month’s NBA draft, along with two future second-round picks.
After spending the last two seasons with the Nuggets, Green will be hoping to see more minutes in his next stint after averaging just 17.2 minutes per game during his time in Denver. Green has until June 20th to make a decision on his $8.2 million player option for the 2022-23 season, and it remains to be seen whether he picks that up. He’ll turn 32 later this month, and he could be looking to secure one more long-term deal on the open market, even if he has to give up more money annually.
For Denver, President of Basketball Operations Calvin Booth had said that he planned to be aggressive this offseason, and he immediately got to work with this first move. This now gives the Nuggets two first-round picks, 30 and their own at 21. Denver could be looking to build out their roster with more cheap young talent to surround their star-studded but expensive core. Additionally, they could be looking to trade up for one of the rookies that are unlikely to be available when they go on the clock, or maybe that superstar trade fans have been clamoring for is finally on its way. Whatever the case may be, Booth is going to work to make his warchest of assets a little bit bigger.
