The Denver Nuggets tried to play Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic together. They really did.
Through November, the two logged 104 minutes of court time together. But the Nuggets were outscored by more than 15.4 points per 100 possessions during those situations, according to NBA.com.
The two, as a result, have seen just one minute together since the start of December. Jokic has taken over the starting 5 slot, the Nuggets are borderline rolling, and Nurkic has played just 22 minutes over the last seven games, which have included four DNPs.
Though Nurkic has been professional about the entire dilemma, it’s clear that the new status quo isn’t sitting well with him, per The Denver Post‘s Christopher Dempsey:
But Nurkic isn’t mincing words about his unhappiness with the role.
“For sure it’s tough,” Nurkic said. “I’m 23 years old. I’m not here to sit on the bench. I’m here to play basketball. And it’s a tough decision for me, from a starting spot and 20 minutes to four straight (games of not playing). … You control what you control, and I let my agent do the rest of the stuff.”
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“It’s not good,” Nurkic said. “When you (don’t) play, and you feel not part of the team, it’s not fun. Especially when you started from the preseason – how many games, I don’t even know. And you just come to the game (one day) and you’re not in the rotation and nobody tells you anything. So, it’s not my control. I’m going to do what I can do; come here, work every day hard and be professional like I should be.”
Trading Nurkic will be tough. The demand isn’t especially high for bruising bigs who don’t shoot threes—not even when they come with Nurkic’s court vision and floor awareness. The Nuggets will certainly have takers, and they have the financial flexibility to absorb a much larger salary in return, but Nurkic won’t net a star or high-impact player on his own. He’s most valuable when used in conjunction with other pieces—picks, prospects, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, etc.
The only way Nurkic will have a future in Denver is if head coach Mike Malone decides to use him as a second-unit anchor. And for that to happen, the Nuggets probably need to move Kenneth Faried, who often soaks up time at the 5 in bench units.
