How The Luka Trade Impacts The Nuggets, Plus Trade Talk
Are they still the Lakers' Daddy?
It’s been a great time to be a Nuggets fan for many reasons, but along with the title, MVPs, and annual contender status, the Nuggets have owned the Lakers. Denver got to really feel like they owned the Lakers. They were the Lakers’ daddy!
Maybe they still are.
But the Nuggets will never be rid of the Lakers.
Luka Doncic is a Laker, and we know how this ends. Titles and Luka being “A Laker For Life” and all that. I’ve said this many times, “The arc of the NBA universe bends towards the Lakers.”
For as long as the Jokic era goes, they’ll have to deal with Luka and the Lakers.
But how does this impact things in the short term for the Nuggets and a potential playoff run?
THE LAKERS
I don’t know how the LeBron fit is going to go. They’re both cerebral players. They’re both S-Tier offensive minds.
But LeBron has legitimately slid this year. I hate that, as someone who has watched his career and marveled at how good he continued to be because of the work he put in to be so. I haven’t agreed with every decision he’s made, but they’re not my decisions to make. But I could always say how great he was.
The Lakers have lost their minutes with LeBron this season.
He watches more on defense than he used to, and trusts his body to accomplish more than it can at this point, based on muscle memory.
The Lakers aren’t done dealing. They somehow, someway, didn’t have to send their other tradeable first-round pick. Austin Reaves is irrelevant now. Everything about this build beyond LeBron (and honestly that’s just because of his status and no-trade clause) is irrelevant. You are remaking the team around Luka for now and the next decade.
The Lakers will likely look to add a center. Robert Williams is their preferred choice by all accounts but I wouldn’t be surprised if they got Clint Capela (who used to give Jokic problems but since he ascended to God Tier, no longer).
They will target athletic wings and then try and add an AD replacement, in as far as adding a rim protector power forward who can stretch the floor.
LA is less capable of guarding the Nuggets for now. Davis does make Jokic work, sometimes, and his absence makes this easier. You need three good bigs to be competitive with the Nuggets, and the Lakers currently have zero. They’ll work to get them, but for now, that matchup still leans Joker.
Doncic presents problems for everyone, but the absence of a rim-runner big next to him eases that somewhat. Maybe he’ll target Jamal Murray, but sometimes Doncic chooses odd selections for his switch-hunting. He might go after Murray. He might ISO AG. He might put Christian Braun in screen sequences. He might try and stretch out Joker to get him on switches.
The Lakers, in many ways, have the kind of roster you would want the Nuggets to have around Joker. LeBron as an elite finisher and secondary playmaker. Dorrian Finney-Smith as a pure 3-and-D disruptor. Hachimura as a floor-spacing power forward (for as long as he’s there). Reaves as a playmaker who can play next to either of the stars or manage the offense on his own (for as long as he’s there).
Hustle guys like Jared Vanderbilt (might get traded this week), pure shooters on cheap contracts like Dalton Knecht. The Lakers aren’t whole, and so for now Denver should be fine in a series.
But over the next decade, well, the bar got higher.
THE MAVERICKS
I had been concerned for the Nuggets if this were a possible playoff series with Luka and the Mavericks fully healthy.
Luka able to target the Nuggets’ backline defense with jump passes over the at-level pick and roll coverage to cutters or the weakside corner shooters is just not something the Nuggets are equipped to deal with.
That’s all gone.
The Mavericks are now Kyrie Irving’s team. That’s a problem for Denver with their lack of screen navigation guards. Kyrie’s going to have a huge series if they play. AD will continue to be the two-way matchup problem but now AG doesn’t have to match up with LeBron so he can guard him more while Jokic guards Gafford and Lively, unless they want to keep him out of pick and roll actions.
Dallas was already the No.2 defense in the league protecting the rim. Now they’re, maybe, I don’t know, tied for first? That hurts vs. Denver because of the spacing issues. You don’t want to play Dallas if you need to score on the interior, unless you have Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets have Nikola Jokic. So all the rim protection in the world doesn’t really help.
Dallas will still need offensive creation. Their guard rotation is severely lacking now, as it was designed around supporting Luka.
Maybe they make a move for Jimmy Butler to shoot the moon.
FALLOUT
No, this does not mean the Nuggets can just trade for Giannis. There are rules for the Lakers and rules for the rest of the league.
It does mean that however the Lakers build out this iteration, you’ll have to account for that this summer. That once again is why Denver needs assets.
Can the Lakers beat the Nuggets in the playoffs with this team? Probably not, but it’s possible. Can the Mavericks beat the Nuggets in the playoffs with this team? Very probably not, but it'll probably be an annoying series.
But on Saturday morning, the biggest concerns for the Nuggets in the West should have been OKC, Houston (somehow), and Dallas. Now it’s just OKC and Houston.
And if nothing else, Nuggets fans should remain grateful that no matter what mistakes they make, the Nuggets’ ownership and front office will never take Nikola Jokic for granted the way the Dallas Mavericks did.