Welcome back to the Mile High City, Arron Afflalo.
In a move that has the Denver Nuggets looking to win now and leaves us temporarily scratching our heads about the Orlando Magic, Denver will reacquire shooting guard Arron Afflalo in exchange for Evan Fournier and the No. 56 pick in tonight’s draft, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Afflalo is coming off his best offensive season in the NBA, averaging 18.2 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 43 percent from three-point range. He was rumored to be on the trade block for the Magic for quite awhile now and the move gives Orlando a little bit of financial flexibility moving forward. Fournier, an intriguing 21-year-old prospect, is a decent addition still on his rookie contract.
However, trading Afflalo for so little in return is an odd move even with financial flexibility in mind. The Magic definitely could have gotten more out of an Arron Afflalo deal and it does make you question where they’ll go from here on draft day. Fournier is a decent prospect, but he’s nothing special just yet after averaging 8.4 points per game this season while shooting 42 percent from the field.
Also - great job by Denver stealing Afflalo for 30 cents on the dollar. Magic must have a 2nd deal coming because that trade makes no sense.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 26, 2014
For Denver, this is a tremendous move. Not only does it help bolster the wing with a former fan favorite, but the Nuggets were able to orchestrate Afflalo’s return without giving up any really significant pieces moving forward. Afflalo was including in a four-team trade involving Dwight Howard two years ago. The Nuggets got Andre Iguodala out of the deal, who was then involved in a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors the following year. That sign-and-trade nabbed Denver a trade exception, which it just used to acquire Afflalo. Funny how the NBA works sometimes, isn’t it?
Afflalo will make $7.5 million this season and has a player option (also worth $7.5 million) for the 2015-16 season.