In the NBA, a random mid-August trade on Wednesday night involved the Cavaliers, Clippers, Nuggets, Wizards and Hornets. The trade involved Peyton Watson, who agreed to a four-year, $88 million deal with the Cavs. But the main story is that the Mavs have a window of opportunity now thanks to the Nuggets getting so much worse overnight.
The Clippers got a little better by adding a reliable shooter in Max Strus, who's had previous success with the Heat and Cavs, but now he adds to a logjam at guard. The Nuggets no longer have their championship core, except for a few players, but losing Watson wasn't even the worst part.
The Nuggets came out of the trade looking worse off than before, and the Mavs can absolutely take advantage of that.
The Nuggets are less of a team to worry about for the Mavericks
The Nuggets got a 2031 first-round pick (via Cavaliers), a 2032 second-round pick (via Kings) and Julian Reese. He's the brother of NCAA Champion Angel Reese, but for Julian, he's a young talent on nowhere near the same tier as Watson, and those draft picks won't hit until 2031.
Sam Quinn of CBS Sports lays it out perfectly, and gave the Nuggets a D- grade.
"At this point, I'm not sure it's ever fair to consider the Nuggets fringe contenders...It's a sad decline for a team that once had dynastic potential."
Cooper Flagg and the Mavericks are only going to get better as time rolls on, but some NBA writers are still skeptical about the new-look Mavericks. They have a long way to go, but they have a nice team filled with youngsters and a returning Kyrie Irving.
There's also the NBA Cup, and the Mavs got paired up with the Nuggets in their group. Could this secretly be a gift? A sleeper story turning into a team that could very well move on in the tournament by beating the Nuggets. Watson provided a lot of depth at the three and four, and the Nuggets no longer have that.
The Nuggets are always a playoff team under Jokic, but how can he handle what the front office is doing to his team? He's not going to be able to handle it for much longer.
Did the Nuggets decide Jokic's fate in Denver? He doesn't have that same championship core of Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown. The Nuggets still have Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon on the roster, but they have taken a tumble since.
The Mavs have a gift here from a completely awful trade. Denver is no longer a clear-cut championship team from before, and the Mavs can take advantage of that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google