NBA Rumors: Nuggets Had Holiday In Mind But Hardly Made Sense

The Denver Nuggets are rolling right now and are on course to making the NBA playoffs. They have been one of the more quiet teams during the last NBA trade deadline but it appears they were trying to cook up something. It turns out they were considering Jrue Holiday of the New Orleans Pelicans, one of the names that was up in the air last month.

Holiday never moved out of New Orleans and Shams Charania of The Athletic clarified that the Pels never really showed interest in shipping the 29-year-old guard. Denver reportedly attempted to make a major trade before the February deadline but it never prospered. Further, Holiday made is clear that he wanted to stay with the Pelicans.

Adding Holiday to the Nuggets would have been something but also made no sense. They don't really need another scorer right now, seemingly doing well with their current roster. It would have been a waste of effort with the 17th overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft likely to experience a dip in production. Of course, that still depends on what head coach Michael Malone had up his sleeve. Adjustments could be made but some players would likely be eased out of the rotation.

Seeing how the Nuggets are running third with a 42-20 win-loss record in the NBA Western Conference, there is no telling if they would be better (or worse) had the move materialized. Also, it would have had dire effects on the Pelicans who are trying to catch the last bus to the NBA playoffs.

As of this writing, the Pelicans are at 11th spot with a 27-36 win-loss record. They are four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies but have lighter assignments in their final 19 regular-season games. It would take a big effort for the Pels to pull through. Holiday could help but the focus is really on Brandon Ingram and rookie Zion Williamson. Despite losing Anthony Davis, reaching the playoffs in the first year of a transition period could be a good sign of things to come.

The Nuggets just have to stay the course. They are at the upper half of the standings and added more firepower after taking in Troy Daniels for good measure. Daniels was recently waived by the Los Angeles Lakers to open up a roster spot. That eventually went to Dion Waiters although he has yet to play a game for the purple and gold.