Analyst Predicts Nuggets Will Make West Rival Regret Offseason Trade

With the extra cap space, they signed Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown in free agency to upgrade their bench.

The Nuggets also acquired Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings for Dario Saric to add a much-needed backup center behind Jokic.

Kings predicted to regret trading Jonas Valanciunas to Nuggets

Saric had fell out of Denver’s rotation and swapping him for one of the best backup big men in the league in Valanciunas was a no-brainer for the Nuggets and one that Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale believes the Kings will regret making as he predicted that it will be among the worst moves of the NBA offseason.

“More than that, fitting his (Dennis Schroder’s) deal into the Kings' payroll structure required trading Jonas Valanciunas, one of the best backup centers in the league, for Dario Šarić, who's years removed from being an every-night rotation player. Dumping Valanciunas is perhaps the worst of the Kings' moves in a vacuum. But it on ly happened because they decided to pay Schroder,” Favale wrote.

Favale made a great point about how the Kings had to move on from Valanciunas to sign Schroder in free agency who is now their new starting point guard.

Despite this, there were reports that Valanciunas was looking to sign with a team in Greece this offseason which would void his contract with the Kings, allowing them to free up enough space to sign Schroder.

Instead, they traded the veteran center to Denver for Saric who will likely be out of Sacramento’s rotation next season if he even makes their opening night roster.

While this trade does not look like a good move for the Kings, it looks like a great one for the Nuggets as they finally add a much-needed backup center behind Jokic to bolster their second unit as they try to make a run at a championship next season.