The Nuggets were on the clock and elected against making a pick.<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s turn to select with the 26th pick of the NBA Draft came up with Houston\u2019s Chris Cenac Jr., Duke\u2019s Isaiah Evans, Arizona\u2019s Koa Peat, North Carolina\u2019s Henri Veesaar, Arkansas\u2019 Meleek Thomas, Iowa State\u2019s Joshua Jefferson and Connecticut\u2019s Tarris Reed Jr. among the best players available.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Nuggets front office elected to trade the 26th pick to San Antonio for the 35th overall pick in Wednesday\u2019s second round, Minnesota\u2019s 2028 second-round pick and Sacramento\u2019s 2031 second-rounder. <\/p>\n
The Spurs went on to select Reed, continuing the trend of the Western Conference\u2019s top teams getting bigger and better. Oklahoma City used its first pick, the 12th overall selection, to draft 7-foot-3 Aday Mara out of Michigan.<\/p>\n
San Antonio returned fire by selecting Kentucky\u2019s Jayden Quaintance, a 6-10 shot-blocker and adding Reed, a 6-11 center.<\/p>\n
Since the trade had not been formally processed by the end of the first round, Denver\u2019s executives were not able to talk about the transaction. The trade was finalized later Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Prior to the trade, the Nuggets were extremely short on draft capital. Second-round picks are frequently used to facilitate trades or move off of undesirable contracts, and the Nuggets were down to one after Calvin Booth\u2019s front office used three second-round picks to trade away Reggie Jackson and three more to move up to select DaRon Holmes II in 2024.<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s new-look front office led by Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace is yet to make a draft pick. The Nuggets did not have a draft pick last year. Denver\u2019s most recent first-round pick, Holmes, was made by Booth.<\/p>\n
The top five went as expected \u2013 BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa to Washington, Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson to Utah, Duke\u2019s Cam Boozer to Memphis, North Carolina\u2019s Caleb Wilson to Chicago and Illinois\u2019 Keaton Wagler to the Clippers.<\/p>\n
The trade market was quiet until Memphis traded back from 16 to 17, allowing Oklahoma City to select Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz. The Grizzlies moved back again to 21 in a move with Detroit, and the Pistons took Stanford\u2019s Ebuka Okorie. The trend continued with the Nuggets on the 26th pick.<\/p>\n
Boston picked Cenac at 27. Jefferson, the 28th pick, ended up with Brooklyn. Sacramento traded with Cleveland to select Connecticut\u2019s Alex Karaban, and Phoenix struck a deal with Dallas to select Koa Peat with the 30th overall pick.<\/p>\n
Evans, Veesaar and Thomas headline the list of best-available players heading into the second round. If those three are off the board, one of Cincinnati\u2019s Baba Miller, Louisville\u2019s Ryan Conwell, and German guard Jack Kayil will be available to become the first draft pick of the Tenzer-Wallace era.<\/p>\n
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