The Denver Nuggets are hanging around the playoff picture at 22-32 and five games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, this puts the Nuggets in a tough position because they don't know whether they should be buyers or sellers. The best bet is that the Nuggets won't make the playoffs, but that doesn't mean they should make any drastic changes because they have some solid young players. Will Barton and Kenneth Faried are two players that seem to be drawing a lot of interest, but neither are likely to be dealt, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post.
Barton has been a revelation this year, as he is easily having the best season of his career, and because of that teams want him. Barton is still just 25 years old and signed a three-contract last offseason with the Nuggets at an extremely cheap price. Before the season $3.5 million a year for Barton seemed fair, but now it is a massive bargain, so based on that and his tremendous production the Nuggets have no intention of trading him.
The Nuggets reportedly know they have a gem in Barton, so trade requests won't even be listened to. The fourth-year wing man is putting up career numbers across the board, averaging 15.5 points and six rebounds per game while making 46 percent of his field goals and 38 percent of his threes. Barton may be the frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year and is maybe the least likely of the Nuggets to be traded at the deadline.
Kenneth Faried is a similar scenario for the Nuggets, but he may not be as untouchable as Barton. Dempsey believes that Faried is not on the block, but he could be had if the Nuggets are offered a "too good to be true" deal. For the most part, though, Faried has been great for the Nuggets in his four-plus seasons, and they don't really want to trade him.
Faried's contract situation is also similar to Barton's as he is in the first year of a new contract extension and his price tag moving forward is very reasonable (not as big of a bargain as Barton's, but $12 million a year with the cap set to rise is a great team-friendly deal.) Faried is having another very good season for the Nuggets, averaging 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while making 56 percent of his field goals. The 26-year-old forward has reportedly drawn interest from the Toronto Raptors among other teams, so while his name will be thrown around over the next week the likelihood of him being traded is low.
Although Faried and Barton are unlikely to go anywhere, that doesn't mean Denver will be quiet at the deadline. The most likely Nugget to be traded is J.J. Hickson, whom the Nuggets have reportedly been trying to trade for a while now, and it is expected he will be elsewhere soon. Another player who could be dealt is Joffrey Lauvergne because he is drawing a lot of interest and the Nuggets have a lot of young depth at the center position.
