According to a report from Sean Deveney of Sportingnews.com, the Denver Nuggets are rumored to have been very active in pursuing a draft day trade and are the team “most likely to pull off a deal.” This is not surprising since they hold three first-round draft picks in tomorrow’s draft, more than they are probably interested in holding on to. But the Nuggets also have a lot of very desirable veteran talent.
The player Deveney sites as the most likely to move is Kenneth Faried. It is also rumored that Tom Thibodeau and the Timberwolves are very interested in the Nuggets energy big man. Thibs worked with Faried on the US National team in 2014 and is rumored to be very high on his skill set.
The Timberwolves have a handful of interesting pieces. Zach Lavine and Andrew wiggins would both fit very nicely on the Nuggets roster but both are likely out of the price range for Faried. Nemanja Bjelica would be a nice fit alongside Nikola Jokic but is not nearly valuable enough to swap him in for Faried. The Timberwolves do hold the 5th pick in this year’s draft so a combination of lower level players and the higher draft pick may be in play for Faried but that deal still seems somewhat lopsided.
This is the first major rumor to break for the Denver Nuggets ahead of tomorrow's draft. As always, most of these rumors are either completely unfounded or are leaked to the media for ulterior motives so this could be a deliberate leak by the Nuggets to raise the trade value for Faried or by the Wolves/An Agent to get the ball moving. We'll keep you posted as quickly as details and rumors come in.
