2x NBA Champion Mike Miller Puts Former Nuggets' Lottery Pick on Blast

Given that they traded him away, Donovan Mitchell was definitely a miss by the Nuggets, as he was dealt to the Utah Jazz on draft night for Tyler Lydon and Trey Lyles, and he's gone on to become one of the premier guards in the NBA. However, that would've all been forgotten if Denver's 2015 first-round pick panned out to be the player many expected him to be.

Recently, on an episode of The OGs with Udonis Haslem and the Morris twins, co-host Mike Miller shared a story of his interaction with a young Nuggets player during the end of his career, with all signs pointing toward the player being 2015 seventh overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay.

"When I was in Denver my last couple of years...the ownership came to me and said, 'Hey man. We need to work on this kid's jumper, just work'," Miller said. He went on to share that after hitting the player up, which appears to be Mudiay, he showed up late to every practice with Miller, getting later each time.

"Shows up at 9:45. I hit up bossman, this ain't it. This was a lottery pick man, and went out the league," Miller added.

Emmanuel Mudiay's Downfall in the NBA

Despite being the number one recruit in the country, Mudiay decided to forgo college and play in the CBA in China instead. There's no telling, but that likely could've been the start of his poor decision-making in his basketball career.

Even without seeing him play against comparable talent in college, the Nuggets took a chance on Mudiay with the seventh-overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, betting on the upside for a player that drew comparisons to the likes of John Wall.

Mudiay went on to finish seventh in Rookie of the Year voting in 2016, but it was a season where he shot a horrific 43.7 TS%. Based on that and the apparent off-the-court issues with Mudiay as highlighted by Miller, the Nuggets already seemingly phased him out of their plans by drafting Jamal Murray seventh overall in 2016.

Mudiay's role would continue to decrease in Denver before being traded in 2018, and the once-promising guard phased out of the league by 2022.