Walking into the Denver Nuggets media room on draft night with Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette, my expectations for tonight’s festivities were incredibly low.

The Nuggets didn’t have a draft pick tonight, stemming from the Aaron Gordon trade back in 2021. They’re one of the only teams (along with the Houston Rockets after the Kevin Durant trade) that don’t have a pick tomorrow night either stemming from the DaRon Holmes II acquisition last year.. The expectation was low, and that’s exactly how it ended up going.

Pizza was brought in, but we were cautioned that tonight was likely to be a quiet one for Denver. The media group that decided to brave the first round had a good time. Unfortunately, there were more conversations about interesting rookie names like Airious “Ace” Bailey and Jeremiah Fears rather than the Nuggets making a significant move into the draft.

There were a lot of smoke signals about major trades potentially happening, but the top of the first round went mostly chalk and was fairly boring. Cooper Flagg went first overall, Dylan harper went second, Ace Bailey didn’t fall that far, and only Collin Murray-Boyles (shoutout South Carolina) was a surprise in the top nine picks.

Then, the more out-of-pocket moves started to come.

  • The Phoenix Suns drafted center Khaman Maluach at 10th overall AND traded for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams within five minutes.
  • The Memphis Grizzlies traded up for wing Cedric Coward.
  • The New Orleans Pelicans traded an UNPROTECTED first round pick next year to move up 10 spots and select Derik Queen
  • The Portland Trail Blazers traded down and took Chinese center Hansen Yang despite having four other centers on their roster.
  • The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted French center Joan Beringer, a possible replacement for Naz Reid in case they can’t retain him

It was a wild middle of the round. But by far the funniest moment of the draft was when Danny Wolf, extremely emotional over his draft night slide, was finally selected by the Brooklyn Nets, who made FIVE total first round selections on the evening. ESPN was laser focused on Wolf for the entire time to the point that it became uncomfortable, but the slide finally ended with one of the weirdest situations of next season.

Then again, it wasn’t wild for Denver. We reacted to the picks with gusto in here, had a good time with some pizza and snacks, but ultimately, the Nuggets didn’t do anything to get involved by the end of the night.

As outlined earlier this week, there were very few ways the Nuggets could actually acquire a pick in the first round, so it’s not surprising that they stood pat. Denver will continue to be patient, maybe canvas the league a bit on the idea of getting involved.

One reason why Denver may avoid drafting anyone though: the limited roster spots. The Nuggets currently have 12 players committed to their roster. They will need that flexibility to add free agents, either their own or outside the organization, and players drafted in the first round are a guaranteed spot.

Maybe Denver adds a second rounder and gets them on a two-way, but it would be surprising at this stage if anyone was acquired for the 15-man roster.

In addition, there were no major player trades during the first round. The only player acquisition on the evening was Mark Williams, a pretty underwhelming move for a Phoenix Suns team apparently trying their best to win 40+ games next year. None of the big names expected to be moved this offseason actually moved during this window, though that may change in the next 24 hours.

The most interesting thing for Denver is how the Northwest Division operated around them. The Utah Jazz added Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr., but the other three teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, and Minnesota Timberwolves, all added centers. They’re still aware of Nikola Jokic in their division and are planning for both the short term and long term against the three-time MVP Nuggets big man.

Ultimately, this was a relatively boring draft. The coverage was meh. The Nuggets experience was non-existent. There were very few actual fireworks and few actual changes at the top of the NBA.

But we had fun.

See you tomorrow night for Day 2.