Denver Nuggets: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s potential fit
By Max Carlin
Among the candidates for the Denver Nuggets’ 14th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander offers a compelling mix of safety and upside.
All the basketball of the 2017-18 NBA season has been played. It was often great, frequently heartbreaking and pleasantly unpredictable. It was confirmation that basketball will always be fun and good, even when stars get hurt, even when you lose one-game playoffs.
The on-court drama is over, but this truly wacky, unforgettable season will have one last hurrah on the night of June 21. The NBA Draft is quite the spectacle. It’s a massive production, the culmination of ungodly amounts of work for analysts, front offices and, most importantly, 60 of the best young basketball players in the world.
The Denver Nuggets will enter the festivities armed with the 14th overall selection and a couple of leaks in need of patching. With Will Barton’s free agency looming and impending salary cap strife, Denver will likely need a new backup point guard. Additionally, Denver’s roster imbalance — Wilson Chandler is the only wing with adequate size on the team—leaves the team in dire need of long-term wing depth.
It’s logical, then, that the University of Kentucky’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a name often associated with Denver and its 14th pick.