Rumors have been swirling for much of the weekend regarding the possibility of the Trail Blazers making a move for a young big man. And now it looks as though those rumors might have been true, even if the players involved aren't those whose names had been previously involved.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Trail Blazers have traded center Mason Plumlee and a 2018 second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for third-year center Jusuf Nurkic and a 2017 first-round pick...
As Wojnarowski notes, the Trail Blazers now have their own 2017 first round pick, which would be the 11th overall pick if the draft were held today, one of Denver's first round picks acquired from the Grizzlies, which would currently be the 21st pick, and a 2017 first round pick from the Cavaliers, which would currently be the 26th overall pick, acquired in exchange for the 2018 first round pick they sent to Portland as compensation for taking Anderson Varejao's contract at the 2016 trade deadline.
So to recap, that's three first round picks in a reportedly deep draft. Not a bad way to go about a bit of a reset both in terms of acquiring young players on rookie scale contracts and having assets to include in trades for veterans.
And then there's Nurkic. At 22 years old, the 7-0, 280 lbs. Bosnian center has played three season with the Nuggets after being selected by the Bulls with the 16th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft (he was subsequently traded along with Gary Harris to the Nuggets in exchange for Doug McDermott and Anthony Randolph and has put up career averages of 7.5 points on 46 percent shooting, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 assists in 17.9 minutes per game in 139 career games, 59 of those as a starter. He seemed to fall out of favor in Denver this year after starting the first 25 games this season due to the emergence of center Nikola Jokic. Swapping Nurkic with Mason Plumlee gives the Nuggets more of a playmaker to pair with Jokic, while the Trail Blazers get a more potent offensive player at center on a rookie scale salary who is not going into restricted free agency this offseason, a la Plumlee.