The Denver Nuggets were eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder last week.
The Nuggets lasted longer than the Los Angeles Clippers in the epic 7-game series in Round 1, but did not stagnate in Game 7 with Thunder.
Since winning the championship in 2023, the team has lost Blues Brown to the Indiana Pacers and Kentavius Caldwell Pope to the Orlando Magic.
This means that there isn’t enough depth to compete this year, and now we have to desperately try our offseason moves.
One former NBA All-Star has called on Denver to trade one of the starters this summer to extend the team’s championship window.
Jeff Teague believes he won’t have the opportunity to win another title unless the Nuggets shake up the roster significantly.
And after his awful playoff performance, Teague urged Denver’s general manager to trade Michael Porter Jr.
Porter Jr. averaged 18 points, seven rebounds in the regular season, nine points from two assists, 5.5 rebounds, and not even one assist in the playoffs.
“Yeah, that’s over. They have to make a big deal. MPJ. They need to get rid of the MPJ first,” Teague said on the podcast.
His co-host then proposed to keep Porter Jr. in exchange for Trae Young and trade Jamal Murray instead.
“Trey Young to Denver? I hate that,” Teague replied. “If I’m the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks, I hate Jamal Murray for Trae Young. I hate that. I’ll turn it down first…
“I think they need another security guard, but I think they need to get rid of the MPJ. I don’t think there’s a need to replace Jamal Murray.”
The Nuggets made the surprising decision to fire manager Michael Malone before the playoffs and put David Adelman as a temporary charge.
Adelman was not embarrassed by the great pressure he was under, but many feel that Malone has given them the opportunity to make better progress.
“No, they probably did better with Mike Malone,” Teague added. “He obviously made a better post to that team.
“I mean, I don’t think you can say that because they had locker room issues. But he would have played some of the others.”
“Others” mentioned shooting guard Julian Stroser and backup centre Zeke Naji. Strawther played minutes off the bench, but Nnaji was rarely featured in the Thunder series other than garbage time.