NBA Trade Grades: Thunder Acquire Joffrey Lauvergne From Nuggets
Denver Nuggets
From Denver’s perspective, trading Lauvergne makes some sense. He’s not as young or as talented as Jokic and Nurkic, who were going to soak up most of the minutes at center. Out of their three promising centers, the Nuggets traded the right one.
Unfortunately, that also means the return wasn’t as great. Perhaps I’m a bit too high on King Joff’s potential, especially on a roster where his opportunities would’ve been limited, but it feels like the Nuggets could’ve done better for Lauvergne than two protected second-rounders if they had bided their time.
A Lauvergne or Nurkic trade felt inevitable, but another half-season of feeding Joff minutes whenever they became available might have boosted his trade value more. As a power forward/center hybrid, it’s not like such a useful offensive player would’ve been phased out of the rotation.
Joffrey Lauvergne shot 60% finishing inside, 56% going one-on-one in the post, & 47% in the pick & pop for Denver last season.
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) August 30, 2016
They couldn’t have waited past the NBA Trade Deadline, since navigating his restricted free agency next summer and then trying to trade him wouldn’t have made any sense. But another few months of boosting his trade value might have scored the Nuggets a better deal at next year’s deadline.
In any case, the Nuggets’ frontcourt is a little lighter, as is their roster. The Lauvergne trade has Denver’s roster down to 14, leaving room for one more player if the Nuggets choose to add someone to a guaranteed deal in training camp.
With Lauvergne gone, Denver still has plenty of depth at both power forward and center as well:
It’s also worth noting that in addition to the arrival of rookie Juan Hernangomez, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler can log minutes as small-ball 4s. Freeing up more minutes for Nurkic and Jokic at the 5 makes some sense as Denver tries to weed through its crowded frontcourt rotation.
The Nuggets didn’t get significantly worse by this trade, but why not keep the third string center without a better option available and give him a few more months to prove his long-term worth, or at least boost his trade value?
Next: 2016 NBA Offseason Grades For All 30 Teams
With Denver still focusing on internal development, trading Joff now feels like a hasty decision, especially since the return was not as high as it might have been with another half-season under his belt.
Grade: C