The Denver Nuggets will begin training camp in eight days, and the front office has filled all 15 roster spots in preparation for the 2020-21 season.
The weekend was full of trades and signings, with players getting moved at dizzying speeds that made it difficult to track who was standing where at times. Teams are don’t either, with several free agents left still looking for a place to land despite those options dwindling in number. Other teams will have to make decisions about who to retain, like the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have 17 18 a lot of players on their roster as of time of publishing.
Here’s where things stand as of November 23, 2020 for the Northwest Division.
| Denver Nuggets | Utah Jazz | Portland Trail Blazers | Oklahoma City Thunder | Minnesota Timberwolves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamal Murray | Mike Conley Jr. | Damian Lillard | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Ricky Rubio |
| Will Barton | Donovan Mitchell | CJ McCollum | Luguentz Dort | D'Angelo Russell |
| Michael Porter Jr. | Royce O'Neal | Robert Covington | Darius Bazley | Josh Okogie |
| Paul Millsap | Bojan Bogdanovic | Carmelo Anthony | Mike Muscala | Juancho Hernangomez |
| Nikola Jokic | Rudy Gobert | Jusuf Nurkic | Al Horford | Karl-Anthony Towns |
| Monte Morris | Joe Ingles | Zach Collins | George Hill | Malik Beasley |
| Gary Harris | Derrick Favors | Anfernee Simons | Ty Jerome | Anthony Edwards |
| JaMychal Green | Jordan Clarkson | Gary Trent Jr. | Theo Maledon | Leandro Bolmaro |
| Zeke Nnaji | Udoka Azubuike | Rodney Hood | Hamidou Diallo | Jarrett Culver |
| Facu Campazzo | Emmanuel Mudiay | Derrick Jones Jr. | Andre Roberson | Evan Turner |
| PJ Dozier | Georges Niang | Nassir Little | Trevor Ariza | Kelan Martin |
| Bol Bol | Nigel Williams-Goss | Harry Giles III | Kenrich Williams | Jake Layman |
| Isaiah Hartenstein | Juwan Morgan | Wenyen Gabriel | Darius Miller | Jaden McDaniels |
| Vlatko Cancar | Miye Oni | Enes Kanter | Admiral Schofield | Jarred Vanderbilt |
| RJ Hampton | Rayjon Tucker | Caleb Swanigan | Justin Jackson | Naz Reid |
| TJ Leaf | Ed Davis | |||
| Deonte Burton | ||||
| Isaiah Roby | ||||
| Aleksej Pokusevski | ||||
| Vincent Poirier | ||||
| Vit Krejci |
The Timberwolves have added Anthony Edwards with the first overall pick, adding another scoring guard to their roster. They were able to swing a trade for Ricky Rubio, bringing him back after stops in Utah and Phoenix. They signed Malik Beasley and Juancho Herngomez to a four year, $60 million contract and a three year, $21 million contract — from a Nuggets standpoint, it’s nice to see a division rival spend $81 million on two players that couldn’t get on the court for them last season.
Oklahoma City has been involved in so many trades in the offseason. They completed revamped their starting lineup from last season, with Chris Paul going to Phoenix, Steven Adams going to New Orleans, and Danilo Gallinari going to Atlanta. They had Kelly Oubre Jr. for a minute, before moving him to Golden State for a first-round pick. They’ll be starting Al Horford at center, giving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a veteran big to aid in his development while they figure out the remaining eight men in their 10-man rotation for the regular season.
The Jazz extended Donovan Mitchell on a max contract, locking in their franchise guard for five more years. It’s a well-deserved contract, and gives them a clear leader to build their franchise around for the next half-decade. They were able to bring back Derrick Favors, who seemed like he was willing to take a bit of a deal to come back to Salt Lake City. Most of their core remains in tact, as they will try to recover from blowing a 3-1 lead in the playoffs to the Nuggets in the first round.
The Trail Blazers were active, making a trade for Robert Covington from the Houston Rockets, and adding one of the most athletic forwards in the league in Derrick Jones Jr. on a two year deal. Neil Olshey brought back Enes Kanter, giving them a ton of center depth on a team that already has Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins. Adding Harry Giles III was a low-cost smart move, adding a young forward to a team that may not have Zach Collins at the start of the season. They’ll see if they can get more minutes from Carmelo Anthony, but this is mostly still the same team as last season.
The Nuggets were active in areas that most NBA teams don’t investigate, signing Facu Campazzo away from Real Madrid and adding Greg Whittington to a two-way from Turkey. They added some size in Isaiah Hartenstein, and brought back Paul Millsap on a one-year deal that nearly guarantees he’ll be in Denver for the 2020-21 season. They lost out on Jerami Grant, with the former Syracuse Orangeman heading for bleaker pastures with a three year, $60 million deal with the Detroit Pistons. The Nuggets will enter the season with a lot of guards and bigs, and only a couple wings as they attempt to return to the Western Conference Finals again.
The schedule will eventually be released, and we’ll find out then how many cracks the Nuggets will get against these teams.
