“For thirty seconds, we thought we had Luka”. This is what a (former?) Nuggets manager said to Mike Singer, the former “beat writer” of the Colorado franchise for the Denver Post who has just released a biography by Nikola Jokic, entitled “Why So Serious?” »
The context? It's the 2018 Draft, and if Denver has just missed the playoffs for the fifth year in a row, the club is still progressing in the wake of its pivot, not yet an All-Star. Jamal Murray then finished his second season and established himself as a potential starter alongside Paul Millsap and Gary Harris.
It is precisely the latter which must serve as a bargaining chip for the Nuggets, who know that the Suns will take Deandre Ayton with their first choice and that Vlade Divac, who has the second choice, is not a fan of Luka Doncic.
The idea is therefore to go up to the Draft by offering Gary Harris, whose rating was then very high, plus two “first round” Drafts, including undoubtedly the 14th choice in 2018 with which the club will choose Michael Porter Jr, in order to recover the Kings' second choice, and thus be able to select the Slovenian.
Were the Nuggets really close to forming a Luka Doncic – Nikola Jokic duo? Mike Singer can't say for sure, “not being in the room” but some obviously think that it didn't go far…
