The Denver Nuggets made significant strides to improving the future of their franchise Saturday, securing the long-term services of talented young center Nikola Jokic. Jokic agreed to a five-year $148 million max deal soon after the commencement of free agency, per Adrian Wojnarowski and the hierarchy in Denver is already looking to do everything they can to surround their franchise centrepiece with talent that can help them win big. The Nuggets last made the playoffs back in 2013, but with Jokic, and other talented youngsters like Jamal Murray and first round pick Michael Porter Jr on board, they look to be on the rise. Denver also agreed to a four-year $53 million deal with Will Barton, Saturday. The dynamic guard posted career high averages of 15.7 points and 4.1 assists per game last season and is another valuable piece in the rotation.They're not done there though, and it appears the team is after much bigger things than just tying down their key assets. According to Yahoo Sports' Chris Mannix the Nuggets are aggressively pursuing a meeting with the biggest free agent of them all; LeBron James. James officially became an unrestricted free agent Saturday and Denver is keen on selling him on what would be a scary front court pairing with Jokic.
Jokic's ability as a distributor and and perimeter shooter make him the perfect pairing for James and the duo would instantly make Denver a contender in the West. The 23-year-old center posted the fourth most triple doubles in the NBA last season (10) whilst averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 boards and 6.1 assists with an impressive three point shooting percentage of 39.6.
He would certainly be an attractive partner for James to play alongside, but the Nuggets would have to clear out a ton of cap space to make room for the four-time MVP.
Even then, James would most likely want to link up with at least one more established star like a Kawhi Leonard and the Nuggets simply don't have the assets to manoeuvre a trade for Leonard and make space for both All Star's salaries.
James has too many other viable options that give him a much better chance to win now to consider linking up with a young team that is still discovering the potential of it's key contributors.
CLICK HERE to listen to Episode Two of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring New York Times senior writer Marc Stein. Subscribe for all future episodes.