Friday Faceoff: Did the Nuggets win or lose the NBA trade deadline?

Vinny Benedetto, Nuggets writer

Answer: Win

Winning on the margins is still a victory.

Anyone holding out hope Denver would take a big swing ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline was setting themselves up for disappointment. Denver lacks two things that facilitate trades in the NBA: draft picks and mid-size contracts. That being the case, Denver’s front office did the best with its limited options.

Trading Hunter Tyson and a future second-round pick to Brooklyn for a second-round pick in this year’s draft won’t be the top story nationally, but it gives the Nuggets two open roster spots to find players who could potentially help in the postseason while keeping Denver out of the first apron. Denver’s already bad injury situation would have to get even more dire for Tyson to be in the team’s playoff plans.

Spencer Jones is going to be converted to a standard contract that will make him eligible for the postseason. The other roster spot can be used on a position of need, whether that’s another big with more defensive versatility than Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas or a guard who could help take some of the ballhandling load off Jamal Murray and others. Players who are waived on or before March 1 are eligible for the playoffs with their new teams, so Denver can take a wait-and-see approach (and save some money) before committing to their final roster spot.

The Nuggets’ lone move before the deadline was not as valuable as the Thunder adding Jared McCain or Minnesota getting Ayo Dosunmu, but Denver’s deadline was never going to be about a big swing.

A small win is better than not making a move at all, which was Thursday’s second most-likely outcome.

Paul Klee, sports editor

Answer: The Nuggets lost (and probably got hurt in the process)

This is Oklahoma City’s NBA. And the Thunder this week got stronger — if only by a smidge.

Less than a week after OKC made 19 3-pointers in a win over Denver, the Thunder traded for Jared McCain, who is only 21 years old and shoots almost 40% from beyond the 3-point line.

McCain is a luxury for OKC, not a necessity. But it was the rich getting richer.

From a pure entertainment standpoint, here’s the playoff path I hope to cover for the Nuggets: Lakers, Spurs, Thunder and, in the Finals, whichever patsy spits out of the Eastern Conference. That’s a load of fun in every round.

And a serious slog even for a healthy Nuggets team. And this Nuggets team is never healthy.

“AG” is hurt. “P-Wat” is hurt. “CB” looks like he’s still hurt. Even Nikola Jokic got hurt, and the Joker is on the Michael Jordan level of superstar durability.

Gambling on professional sports is never a wise decision. But judging by their fragile state it’s a safe bet the Nuggets will enter the playoffs with some type of injury problem, big or small or both.

Yes, I still take Denver over OKC in a seven-gamer — if the Nuggets are healthy. The Nuggets weren’t healthy in last year’s cage match vs. the Thunder.

But Denver Fan is all too familiar with the injury curse. The 2020 Avalanche saw their Stanley Cup dreams derailed by a wave of injuries to Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson and both goalies. The 2013 Broncos limped into a Super Bowl with Von Miller, Chris Harris Jr., Ryan Clady and Derek Wolfe out for the big game. If these Nuggets can’t stay upright, they’ll add to a sad list.