{"id":112927,"date":"2024-12-18T19:08:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T00:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112927"},"modified":"2024-12-18T20:33:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T01:33:40","slug":"brandon-ingram-nuggets-trade-target-shortlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/18\/brandon-ingram-nuggets-trade-target-shortlist\/","title":{"rendered":"New Star Lands On Nuggets\u2019 Trade Target Shortlist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Denver Nuggets are on the verge of making their first major in-season trade since March 2021, when they acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gordoaa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Gordon<\/a> from the Orlando Magic. Only this time, they\u2019re not looking for a versatile defender and connector. Instead, the Nuggets are hoping to acquire a scorer, and have significant <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/17\/nba-rumors-nuggets-trade-interest-in-bulls-star-significant\/\" target=\"_self\">interest in Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>LaVine wasn\u2019t the only player on Denver\u2019s shortlist though. Their targets include both <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/18\/hawks-deandre-hunter-nuggets-trade-targets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">starters and bench pieces<\/a>. New Orleans Pelicans forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ingrabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ingram<\/a> is also \u201con their radar,\u201d per SNY\u2019s Ian Begley.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Re: The Athletic report on the Nuggets\u2019 search for a scorer, I\u2019ve heard Brandon Ingram is another player among the group on their radar. FWIW: the clearest pathway for Denver to make a trade for a big scorer with a significant salary would be to include Michael Porter Jr. in deal<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ian Begley (@IanBegley) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IanBegley\/status\/1869202861634318632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, similar to the LaVine hypothetical, Nuggets forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/portemi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> is the most likely player to be moved if such a deal gets done.<\/p>\n<h2>Brandon Ingram Lands On Nuggets\u2019 Trade Target Shortlist<\/h2>\n<p>Should the Nuggets pursue Ingram, they couldn\u2019t send Porter to the Pelicans in a straight-up swap.<\/p>\n<p>Ingram makes $156,000 more than Porter, which is just enough to make the trade illegal for a first apron team. However, the financial aspect of the deal isn\u2019t really a high hurdle. If Denver also includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pickeja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Pickett<\/a> and his $1.8 million salary, New Orleans can trade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/matkoka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karlo Matkovic<\/a> ($1.4 million) or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reevean01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Antonio Reeves<\/a> ($1.1 million) to make the trade work.<\/p>\n<p>As Pickett and Reeves are both backcourt players, they could be moved for one another. The Nuggets are fond of international bigs though, so the 6-foot-11 Matkovic could fit their fancy even more. In any case, both Reeves and Matkovic have had promising moments with the Pelicans. In fact, Reeves scored a career-high 34 points in late November. Nonetheless, neither are likely to hold up this potential trade.<\/p>\n<h3>What B.I. Brings To The Mile High<\/h3>\n<p>Due to Ingram\u2019s reputation, there are going to be many people who scratch their heads at the move.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s an inconsistent defender whose buy-in at that end doesn\u2019t match Porter\u2019s. He\u2019s not as automatic as Porter from deep. He moves the ball better than Porter but probably isn\u2019t the player a team should want to be the primary ball-handler. All of those concerns have merit but the nitpicking will distract people from the bigger picture.<\/p>\n<p>Ingram has long been one of the better offensive players in the NBA. However, unlike Porter, he\u2019s done so while creating for himself much of the time. When splitting hairs between two three-level scorers, it\u2019s this that makes Ingram a better fit for the Nuggets.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pelicans Brandon Ingram Highlights vs. Phoenix Suns 12\/5\/24\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aXhHk4HWm5A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Denver not only wants to take pressure off of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> but be able to generate consistent offense without him. The fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murraja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamal Murray<\/a> has looked like a shell of himself much of this season makes it even more imperative that they add a player with Ingram\u2019s skillset.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest question isn\u2019t whether Ingram is the right fit, it\u2019s whether he\u2019ll remain in the Mile High past this season. That being said, it is possible that Ingram lands in Denver in an extend-and-trade. This is particularly possible if the Nuggets can send $8.9 million man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nnajize01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zeke Nnaji<\/a> to the Crescent City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Denver Nuggets are on the verge of making their first major in-season trade since March 2021, when they acquired Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic. Only this time, they\u2019re not looking for a versatile defender and connector. Instead, the Nuggets are hoping to acquire a scorer, and have significant interest in Chicago Bulls guard [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":113074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1608,62,33,4721],"tags":[308,1223,4774],"class_list":["post-112927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nuggets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-trade-rumors","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113087,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112927\/revisions\/113087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}