The Nuggets are wasting Nikola Jokic's time

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you had a happy Halloween and have an amazing weekend ahead of you.

It’s still super early in the NBA season, so it’s probably not the greatest time to overreact to slow starts to all of the teams that aren’t as good as we think they should be at this point. The Denver Nuggets are certainly one of those teams. Denver is 2-2 so far through four games but could easily be 0-4 after eking out two overtime wins against some bad competition early on in the season.

That’s not the part about their season that concerns me most. It honestly doesn’t have anything to do with the play on the court. Rather, I think the front office’s mentality should be raising the Nuggets fans’ eyebrows today.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne is reporting that the Nuggets had a chance to grab Paul George this offseason but passed up on the opportunity. Why? Because grabbing George would’ve required Denver to give up younger players to go along with the salary required.

Here’s Shelburne with more.

“League sources said the Nuggets inquired about Paul George this offseason, but talks never escalated because Denver refused to discuss Braun, Watson or Strawther, and the Clippers weren’t interested in solely taking back future salary — likely the $147 million owed to Porter and Zeke Nnaji.”

Basically, the Nuggets are hesitant to give up on any young pieces, even if it means adding a proven All-Star caliber piece to a championship core.

Here’s the deal. Paul George is, by no means, a sure bet to help the Nuggets win a championship. He was an All-Star last season, but it’s been years since he’s been an All-NBA caliber player. He’ll be 35 years old by the end of this season and his next deal was slated to be very expensive. The Nuggets are wary of the NBA’s second apron, like plenty of other teams around the league are.

BEWARE OF THE APRON: How the NBA’s second apron is breaking your favorite teams apart

But here’s the thing: When you’ve got arguably the best player in the NBA on your side, sometimes you’ve just got to go for it. Sometimes that means going after a player like Paul George. Sometimes it means keeping expensive players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope around. Sometimes it means letting go of younger guys who could turn into something to try and get things done now.

Jokic is 29 years old. He’s in the middle of his prime and coming off of a third MVP season in four years. Getting him the best help possible should be the Nuggets’ biggest priority. That might mean not waiting on Julian Strawther or Payton Watson to pan out.

The Nuggets want to have their cake and eat it, too. It’s the whole “two timeline” approach the Warriors tried, but way worse. At least for Golden State, Jordan Poole had developed into a starter. Jonathan Kuminga was a lottery pick. James Wiseman was oozing with potential.

The Nuggets don’t really have those players. At best, the names on the roster are supplemental pieces who might contribute big this season in bit roles. At worse, they won’t matter at all.

Those are the players Denver is betting on right now. And, after such a slow start to the season, it looks like the risk far outweighs the reward.

Wemby does Wemby things

Speaking of slow starts to the season, Victor Wembanyama definitely got off to one this year.

That slow start is over after he achieved his second career five-by-five game on Thursday night. He finished the Spurs’ game against Utah with 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocks.

He’s the only player in NBA history younger than 22 years old with a five-by-five game, according to Stat Muse. He also joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only two players in league history of have more than one five-by-five game, per Pod of Fame’s Jim Miloch.

Victor Wembanyama put up 25 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, and 5 blocks last night for his second career 5X5 game.

Only 14 other players have ever put up a 5X5 game.

He joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only players in NBA history to achieve a 5X5… pic.twitter.com/HaKQXbeJGm

— Jim Miloch (@podoffame) November 1, 2024

This dude is about to break the NBA.

Shootaround

—  We debated about Bronny James cutting down the nets after his first basket. This is hilarious.

— Speaking of that first basket, LeBron was unmoved. Cory Woodroof has more on it.

— Robert Zeglinski ranked the best rivalries in the NBA today.

— Wemby refusing to speak Chet Holmgren’s name because of their rivalry is pretty wild.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great weekend. Peace.

-Sykes