Per Adrian Wojnarowski at ESPN, guard Jordan McRae’s brief time with the Denver Nuggets is coming to a close.
Denver acquired McRae at the beginning of February for newly-acquired Shabazz Napier to shore up their backup scoring wing deficiency after the four team trade that saw Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez sent to Minnesota. McRae only got into four games and had 32 total court minutes in February for Denver, though – not easy for someone who was averaging 22 minutes a game and looking for a multi-year contract after this season.
McRae wanted minutes, and Denver had no minutes to give in a healthy lineup – and very few to give in a less-healthy one. He was obviously frustrated at times, and Denver doesn’t like to keep players around who aren’t in it for the team goals. It was a tough situation for McRae, but now he can move on to the Suns – his first NBA team – and look to get minutes he can parlay into a long-term home in the Association. I certainly hope the buy out helps him in that regard.
This leaves Denver with just 13 full-time players on the roster, however, and the depth they started the year with has taken a hit. The Nuggets may look for another team’s buyout or the G League for emergency depth, perhaps converting PJ Dozier to a full-time roster slot along the way.
But whatever they do, their trade deadline plan to add a bench shooter in order to offset the loss of Malik Beasley (who is now averaging 21 points and nearly six rebounds a game in Minnesota) has not worked. They’ll need a Plan B.
