Spurs could add much-needed scoring in trade for Nuggets' $179 million forward

The San Antonio Spurs have continued to improve this season as they have started the year 6-8. Despite the great start, they still have some things to clean up to become contenders.

San Antonio currently has a defense that ranks near the top of the NBA. Led by Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner, Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs have held their opponents to 110 points per game, the fifth least in the NBA.

While the Spurs’ defense has thrived, their offense has not. Wembanyama had a slow start to the season but has picked it up recently before suffering a knee injury that has kept him out of one game. Despite Wembanyama getting hot at the right time, the rest of the roster has struggled offensively.

The Spurs are only scoring 109 points per game, which ranks in the bottom 10 of the NBA. They also rank in the middle of the pack in three-pointers made per game with 13.8 and in three-point percentage at 35.2%.

There is a way that San Antonio can fix their offense. They could pull off a trade with the Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr. who has started the season off strong.

In a possible trade, San Antonio could send Harrison Barnes, Zach Collins Malaki Branham and picks to Denver for Porter Jr. and Zeke Nnaji.

This works well for both teams as the Nuggets would free up over $6 million in cap space by unloading Porter Jr’s contract. They would also receive a backup big man in Collins who would fit well in Denver’s second unit, as well as a new starting forward in Barnes who would be an upgrade defensively compared to Porter Jr.

For the Spurs, adding a sharpshooter like Porter Jr. would help their offense take another step forward. With Wembanyama dominating both in the paint and beyond the arc, Porter Jr. would add another three-point ace next to him to space the floor.

So far in Denver’s first 12 games, the 26-year-old forward is averaging 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 47.4% from the field and 40.2% from three. His shooting would help improve San Antonio’s offense, but swapping out Barnes’ defense compared to his could hurt the Spurs defensively.

Either way, the Spurs will still be a great defensive team thanks to Wembanyama, but they must make a trade before the deadline to add another scorer or their hopes of making the Play-In may fall short.

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