The Denver Nuggets are looking like a somewhat mediocre team right now, with a 12-10 record after 22 games. Currently the seventh seed in the West, they are in a play-in spot, somewhere they haven’t been in a while. The latest from Denver is they want to make a trade, and Zeke Nnaji is the first that comes up. What is the latest news about Zeke Nnaji trade rumors? Let’s see.
Zeke Nnaji More Likely to End Up in a Reddit Post than a Trade
According to NBA Insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Nuggets are eager to shake things up this season and try to improve their team. They didn’t improve their team much this summer as they let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope go and only signed Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric. They did manage to keep key starting five players like Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray, but they need to do more in order to remain competitive.
Marc Stein mentioned that the Nuggets are willing to part ways with power forward Zeke Nnaji, but how much of a trade involving him is plausible?
As it stands right now, no team is interested in the young forward. In fact, there might be more Reddit posts involving him from Nuggets fans than he has played meaningful minutes this season. It seems Denver fans are fed up with him, and anytime you try to search Zeke Nnaji’s contract on Google, a Reddit post gets suggested as well. In the sea of funny comments, you can find things in the line “Because he’s the best jazz pianist in the NBA.” That is an answer to Nuggets fans asking why the team gave him a $32 million four-year contract.
How Zeke Ruined the Nuggets
In October of 2023, the Nuggets gave Nnaji a four-year, $32 million rookie-scale contract extension. Drafted in 2020, Nnaji was expected to play a bigger role in the team’s lineup. The year before he got his contract, he averaged 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.7 minutes of action. This year, he is the fifth-highest-paid player on the roster. Here is a fun fact, he is earning more money than Russell Westbrook and Christian Braun combined.
When the Nuggets signed him, they probably thought they can trade him down the road. Yet, nobody expected it to be this hard and Nnaji to regress so much. This year, he is virtually unplayable after averaging almost ten minutes last year and 3.2 points.
Because of the Nnaji contract, the Nuggets were limited in what they could have offered KCP this summer. Two offseasons ago, they had to let go of players like Bruce Brown Jr., a key piece during their championship run. If they fail to trade him by the deadline or in the summer, they will continue to be a tax payer, with limited options to maneuver, and a player that is stuck on their bench.
Will Someone Take a Flier on Nnaji?
As the saying goes, there is always a buyer for stocks. Someone will certainly be willing to make a Zeke Nnaji trade. The problem for the Nuggets is they want a higher-value player than they are sending. They can sweeten the pot by offering some of their future draft picks. They have their own pick in 2026, 2028, 2030, and 2031. Trading a pick to get rid of a player is not always a good thing. In this case, the Nuggets might have to find a rebuilding team with some good veteran players that are willing to take a flier on Zeke. With the way Nikola Jokic is playing, they have to give him a more competitive team. The guy might win his fourth MVP in five years, something only LeBron James and Bill Russell have done in the past.
The post Zeke Nnaji More Likely to End Up in a Reddit Post than a Trade appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.