If the Denver Nuggets do make a trade during Thursday's 2011 NBA Draft, point guard Raymond Felton is the likely candidate to switch teams. Ty Lawson is firmly entrenched as the team's starting point guard, and Felton wants to be a starter. But Felton still has one year left on his contract and it seems he'll bolt after the season. Keeping him may provide the Nuggets with a better trade chip during the season.
As Masai Ujiri recently told the Denver Post:
"We're not in a hurry to do anything (in regards to a trade). And as much as teams call about our players, we call about other players, you have to do that. That's our job. The draft gives you different looks. . . . Instinctively, you have to see what's best for your team."
We saw something similar to this with the Denver Broncos back in April. Executive VP John Elway brought in a number of quarterbacks, fueling speculation that he wanted to draft a quarterback. Now in slightly different circumstances, the Nuggets have a player they could trade to several teams in the lottery.
If the Nuggets do trade into the 5-10 range of the lottery, Chris Dempsey believes the Nuggets could be looking for a guard like BYU's Jimmer Fredette, Colorado's Alec Burks or Washington State's Klay Thompson. But if they want to go big, Bismack Biyombo, Kawhi Leonard and Marcus Morris would be the targets. Burks would be a great homestate addition, but Leonard may fill the biggest need for the Nuggets in the front court.