Strike 1: Quite suddenly, Zeke Nnaji is not just in the building, but he’s on the court. Who would have thought it just a week ago?
Left mostly on the bench, only seeing the floor during mop-up time all season to this point, the former first-round draft pick and his $8 million per season contract were doing the Denver Nuggets more harm than good.
Then, largely out of necessity, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone inserted Nnaji into the game alongside Nikola Jokic in Charlotte, and the fifth-year big man responded with five blocked shots helping the Nuggets beat the Hornets. Then he did it again against New Orleans on Monday night. So after two straight better-than-solid performances – especially on the defensive end – Nnaji may have resurrected his Nuggets career.
Will that career continue in Denver after Thursday’s NBA trade deadline?
Speculation surrounding the Nuggets is that Denver may be “showcasing” Nnaji for a potential trade. He’s eating up space under the salary cap, and his time here has been less than fruitful overall. If an NBA exec from another team had called a week ago and inquired about acquiring the 6-foot-9 big man, it’s likely general manager Calvin Booth would have offered to throw in a truckload of Rocky Mountain Oysters to clinch any deal.
Have things suddenly changed?
It’s no secret that the Nuggets have struggled to put any sort of rim protection on the court most of the season. Nikola Jokic knows he has to stay out of foul trouble, so he doesn’t contest much of anything in the low post until crunch time in the fourth quarter on most nights. Starting power forward Aaron Gordon is an excellent defender, but at 6-foot-8 he’s better at slowing down opposing scorers away from the basket. Peyton Watson is a capable off ball defender as well, but lacks the girth to battle down low. So when the Dario Saric experiment went poorly early in the season, and the free agent center signee was relegated to the very end of the bench, Denver’s interior defense suffered.
For almost the entire season, Nnaji has gotten his limited minutes when Joker was on the bench, and like the rest of the roster (starters included) his productivity was minimal (at best) in that scenario. While he’s listed at 240 pounds, Nnaji really doesn’t come close to fitting the mold of back-up center. That was actually what the Nuggets drafted DaRon Holmes to do last summer before the rookie blew out his Achilles tendon in his first summer league game.
Only recently has Malone shifted gears and begun to use Nnaji at the power forward spot, where his natural skill set is a far better fit.
Monday night against New Orleans, he got the start at the “4” position, and the assignment of guarding Zion Williamson, one of the league’s best at playing bully-ball. Nnaji more than held his own, helping hold Williamson to a meager 14 points (while scoring 12 himself) in the Nuggets win.
So now, with the trade deadline looming, three things can happen with Nnaji:
First, he could be traded, probably as part of some sort of package deal.
Second, he could become a regular part of the Nuggets frontcourt rotation, especially with Watson out for a month with a knee injury.
Or third, with Gordon projected to be back in the starting lineup Wednesday night after taking Monday night off to rest his sore calf, Nnaji could return to the end of the bench while DeAndre Jordan gets the back up center minutes.
Only Booth and Malone know for sure, but the smart money would be on Nnaji sticking around and filling a role – primarily in relief of Gordon and sharing some playing time with Joker – until he proves he’s not up to it. So far, he has been.
If Nnaji is ever put back in the backup center role and left to help fill ‘non-Jokic’ minutes, the former Arizona Wildcat will likely flounder once again. But if he does get most of his playing time alongside the three-time MVP, and sometimes with AG on the court sometimes as well, he might finally live up to his potential, and his phat contract.
That would be great trade deadline news for Nuggets Nation.
