{"id":120265,"date":"2025-01-27T10:51:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T15:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=120265"},"modified":"2025-01-27T10:55:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T15:55:20","slug":"nuggets-trade-rumors-change-during-recent-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/27\/nuggets-trade-rumors-change-during-recent-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Nuggets Trade Rumors Change During Recent Hot Streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weeks ago when the team was struggling, Denver Nuggets trade rumors<\/a> were loud. It was thought that the Nuggets could be interested in taking a big swing at the 2025 NBA trade deadline to mix things up while the team wrestled to get back to championship contention. At one time, a Zach LaVine<\/a> Nuggets trade<\/a> seemed like a possibility. The team desperately needed scoring and shooting to pair with Nikola Jokic<\/a>. Jokic\u2019s usual running mate, Jamal Murray<\/a> was struggling, and the team was looking for answers. Now as the Nuggets are surging, a <\/span>recent report claims<\/span><\/a> their need for another big-name player has lessened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Denver Nuggets Trade Rumors Change During Recent Hot Streak<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nuggets Were Struggling, Sparking Zach LaVine Rumors<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Until the New Year the Denver Nuggets didn\u2019t look quite like title contenders. Although Jokic continued to put up historical numbers, his supporting cast wasn\u2019t living up to his greatness. The team was 18-13, not a bad record, but it was barely in the top 10 for the league. Jokic still had them humming offensively, good for <\/span>fourth in offensive rating<\/span><\/a>, but they were only 19th in defensive rating and losing winnable games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the biggest reasons the Nuggets continued to come up short was due to the fact that they were relying on Jokic to carry them. Murray wasn\u2019t excelling like the second fiddle of a championship contender. Before the new year, <\/span>Murray was averaging<\/span><\/a> less than 20 points per game on fairly inefficient shooting, he was 44% from the field and 36.5% from three. The Nuggets were 13-12 in the games Murray played. The need for another elite scorer started lots of trade rumors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Year, New Nuggets\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After their less-than-inspiring start, the Nuggets finally started to find their way. Over the last 20 games they\u2019ve gone 14-6<\/a> and are 8-2 in their last ten. In those ten games, the Nuggets have shot up to <\/span>second in offensive rating<\/span><\/a> and 11th in defensive rating. The need for help in the trade market started to seem less and less necessary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Murray also improved his play. In his<\/span> last ten games<\/span><\/a>, Murray has improved his scoring and efficiency, averaging 21.9 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds while shooting, 52.2% from the field and 41.8% from three. Jokic\u2019s second fiddle seemed to be back.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Zach LaVine Nuggets Trade Isn\u2019t Likely<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Largely due to this resurgence, it seems like now a Zach LaVine trade might not be the best path for the Nuggets. Their core is playing well and adding a big-name star to the mix (while likely needing to get rid of Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> in the process) no longer seems like the best course of action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the Nuggets may be looking to make roster improvements in the margins. They could use another center behind Jokic. They also need more shooting, especially if Murray can\u2019t continue his hot play. Notably, the Nuggets are 28th in three-point shooting<\/a>, adding another floor spacer would greatly help Denver’s contention chances. It seems like the Nuggets may still be active during the 2025 NBA trade deadline, but LaVine\u2019s name will likely no longer be a target for Denver.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks ago when the team was struggling, Denver Nuggets trade rumors were loud. It was thought that the Nuggets could be interested in taking a big swing at the 2025 NBA trade deadline to mix things up while the team wrestled to get back to championship contention. At one time, a Zach LaVine Nuggets trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":120280,"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":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,8,20,62,4721],"tags":[109,1223,72,457],"class_list":["post-120265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-nuggets","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-jamal-murray","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120265","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\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120281,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120265\/revisions\/120281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}