The Nuggets made a last-second trade on draft day.
The Denver Nuggets went into Tuesday with a late first-round pick available to them and they ended Tuesday with no first-round pick, but an additional second-round pick as well as more second-round picks for the future.
Just before Denver was set to select at 26th-overall, it was reported by ESPN's Shams Charania that the Nuggets were trading that pick to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for San Antonio's 35th-overall pick as well as two future second-round picks.
San Antonio subsequently selected Tarris Reed Jr. with that pick, a senior center out of UConn that took a major step up in the 2026-26 season and averaged 14.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game and presents as another major defensive presence to add to an already formidable San Antonio team.
What's Denver's Plan Now?
The Nuggets will have to bide their time until Wednesday before they can make their first selection of the draft and the fact that they traded down in the draft at all in favor of more picks in the future supports the message that Nuggets' ownership has put out the entire offseason.
That message being that the Denver front office has full confidence in the Nuggets roster as it is and wants to "run it back" with as much of the same team from this past season as possible.
With that philosophy in mind, it does make a certain amount of sense that the Nuggets wouldn't feel as much pressure to pick up an impactful player in this draft, as talented as it is, and would rather invest into the future instead.
It does raise a certain amount of questions that the Nuggets would pick the Spurs as their trade partner, as the Spurs are clearly one of the Nuggets' biggest rivals in the Western Conference, but that itself speaks to Denver's confidence in a healthy roster as well.
Second-Round Needs
The Nuggets will still have an opportunity on Wednesday to acquire a player and round out their depth, which was tested last season with the amount of injuries that the Nuggets suffered, and they do still need to add more strength at the forward position to help further support the roster.
There is still more uncertainty ahead when it comes to what can still transpire in the remainder of the draft, but the Nuggets' last-second trade on Tuesday speaks clearly about what the team's priorities are in the upcoming season as well as in the future.
