NBA

NBA Trade Rumors: Nuggets Hoping To Keep Their Championship Core Together This Offseason

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Anthony Cardenas
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Anthony Cardenas Sports Editor

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Published22 May 2025

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The NBA championship in three years this season. After a shocking coaching late-season coaching change, they were able to take the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, using some of their championship experience and pedigree to give the title favorites a run for their money.

Nuggets Hoping To Keep Their NBA Championship Core Together

There has been a growing sentiment that the Nuggets could look to re-tool this summer, potentially breaking up their core starters in hopes of improving their depth for the 2025-26 campaign. But according to NBA insider Sam Amico, Denver may be hesitant to trade away any of the key players that helped them win a championship in the summer of 2023.

Nikola Jokic is safe. The three-time league MVP is of course the franchise’s centerpiece, and is the player that they will build around for years to come. There have been rumors, though, that his ing cast could undergo some changes.

Guys like Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Michael Porter Jr. have all been mentioned as possible trade candidates, and some even consider Jamal Murray to be moveable.

But the report from Amico suggests that the Nuggets want to keep their core together, which would leave them with very few options going forward. They traded away some of their future draft capital in order to maximize their championship window in 2023, so are limited in the assets that they have in that regard. Denver has no draft picks at all in 2025, and will be sending off first round picks in years in order to pay for trades that they made in the past.

So if they aren’t willing to give up on at least one of the of their starting lineup in order to bring in some depth, there may simply be a “run it back” situation for a team that was exposed for its lack of depth this NBA season.

Porter Jr. Would Be A Prime Candidate For A Trade

If they do any kind of heel turn and decide that they can part with at least one of the pieces from their championship team, Porter Jr. is a likely candidate. The 6th year forward averaged 18.2 points per game during the most recent regular season, and has the three-point shooting ability that teams around the league could find attractive.

It would require an interested franchise to take on the rest of his contract, though, which owes Porter Jr. nearly $80 million over the course of the next two seasons.

It was announced on Thursday afternoon that interim head coach David Adelman would take the lead job on a permanent basis going foward.