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The Denver Nuggets have been the big players at the NBA trade deadline thus far, making one solid deal by sending Arron Afflalo to the Portland Trail Blazers. However, they didn’t do nearly as well by sending JaVale McGee to the Philadelphia 76ers.
This was a clear salary dump for the Nuggets, as McGee was on the books for $12 million next season. McGee never lived up to the massive contract Denver signed him to in 2012 due to both injury and ineffectiveness, and the Nuggets are happy to have cleared his salary. However, they paid a high price to do so, giving up a top-18 protected first round pick in this year’s draft from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Due to the Thunder’s struggles this year, that pick could come in very close to that protection line.
That pick is why the Sixers made this trade, and they did a great job here. McGee’s salary means nothing to a team that was actually below the salary floor this year and has no intentions of spending big in the offseason. Acquiring another first round pick gives Sam Hinkie even more flexibility and the opportunity to add another young asset in the draft. It remains to be seen what McGee’s minutes will look like in Philly, but he could be an upgrade for the on-court product.
The one benefit that Denver gets from this is getting worse, which could push them higher in the draft this year. However, at the end of the day this was nothing more than a salary dump, and they paid a fairly substantial price for it. You can question Hinkie’s tanking/rebuilding project in Philadelphia all you want, but deals like these are where he excels. The Sixers are happy to get paid in assets to take on players other teams don’t want, and they did a nice job with this deal.
It’s hard to be overly critical of the Nuggets here because they did clear some much needed salary cap space, but the Sixers are the clear winners of this deal. They picked up a first round pick for doing nothing, and that will be yet another important asset as they continue on their rebuilding project.
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