The Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder, two teams entrenched in NBA trade rumors have made an actual trade that could kick off preseason trades.
The trade was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports.
"The Denver Nuggets traded forward/center Joffrey Lauvergne to the Oklahoma City Thunder for two future second-round picks, league sources told The Vertical," Wojnarowski reported.
The veteran scribe also noted that "the Nuggets were backloaded with frontcourt players, and the return of starter Wilson Chandler from hip surgery and the emergence of Juan Hernangomez in summer league made Lauvergne expendable." The 24-year old Lauvergne is on the last of a three-year contract with the Nuggets.
Some pundits believed that Lauvergne would be part of a package that Denver would send for a superstar, but they ended up sending him for just second draft picks. Hoops Habit scribe Gerard Bourquet offers an explanation.
"From Denver's perspective, trading Lauvergne makes some sense. He's not as young or as talented as Jokic and Nurkic, who were going to soak up most of the minutes at center. Out of their three promising centers, the Nuggets traded the right one."
What does Denver do after this move? Perhaps it's a sign that they may not be making a superstar push soon. "In any case, the Nuggets' frontcourt is a little lighter, as is their roster. The Lauvergne trade has Denver's roster down to 14, leaving room for one more player if the Nuggets choose to add someone to a guaranteed deal in training camp," Bourquet surmises.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, they got to fill a clear need at power forward. They have players like Mitch McGary, Ersan Ilyasova and rookie Domantas Sabonis, but it's clear that they don't see a solid starter among those options. Sabonis may not be ready and McGary may be on the way out.
"Between McGary's off-court issues with marijuana that earned him a five-game suspension and Donovan's lack of trust in him, adding another 24-year-old with upside like Lauvergne makes some sense," Bourquet wrote, and concluded that OKC may have won this trade in the short term. "At the meager price of two protected second-round picks, the Thunder bolstered their young frontcourt core."
OKC will probably make a trade to address the void at small forward using McGary or Ilyasova.