Pelicans Rumors: A trade with the Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr.

New Orleans Pelicans: Trading Jrue Holiday to the Denver Nuggets

Why the Nuggets would do it

The Denver Nuggets were so close to the NBA Finals that they could practically taste the gold of the Larry O’ Brien trophy.

They are a talented team with two great players and a lot of depth, but they aren’t really built to win a title, at least not yet.

While the Nuggets may have a ton of depth, they didn’t have a third option behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

Holiday is a gifted offensive player who can not only score himself but can be the playmaker if Murray was on the bench or wanted to play more off the ball.

Holiday is also an elite defender who could defend the other team’s best perimeter guy, allowing Murray to focus more on his offense.

He and Murray would form an impressive backcourt on both ends of the floor and Holiday could carry the offense for stretches when Murray is on the bench.

The Nuggets would be sacrificing depth for quality, yes, but teams shorten their rotations in the playoffs anyway, so having 12 guys who can play doesn’t really matter when things tighten up.

Bol Bol couldn’t even get on the floor in the playoffs and MPJ was inconsistent, so they’d be trading two unknowns for a guy who is a proven All-Star and All-Defensive caliber player.

If the Nuggets want to win a title, they’ll need a third piece and Holiday fits well with what they have. If they wanted to push their assets into the middle of the table, this would be one way to do it.