Nuggets GM Calvin Booth after trade deadline: “We have 6 or 7 starters, and we have a drop-off after that”

Before their season tipped off last September, Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth candidly estimated that “we have nine real guys” on the roster.

After the NBA trade deadline came and went quietly in Denver, Booth was asked to reassess that statement.

“It’s really difficult to determine our starting lineup, right? We have six or seven starters, and we have a drop-off after that,” he said Thursday at Ball Arena. “And I think that’s not an insult to anybody, to Julian (Strawther) or any of the other guys on the roster. But I just think that’s where we’re at. I think those six or seven guys have played that well.”

The Nuggets (33-19) ended the night in third place in the West and only 2.5 games back of Memphis for second, no small feat in a conference brimming with depth. Thirteen of 15 teams are competitive as the All-Star break nears.

Denver cannot say the same for its depth, which has dwindled over the last two years since the franchise won its first championship. The six players Booth had in mind were self-explanatory: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Russell Westbrook. Peyton Watson is likely the seventh.

If the Nuggets hope to challenge Oklahoma City and other contenders for a spot in the NBA Finals, they’ll need to overcome the “drop-off” from within after they were one of four teams that didn’t make a move at the trade deadline.

“I think we liked everything that was happening in our rotation,” the 48-year-old GM said, “so we weren’t close to doing anything with anybody in our rotation.”

Booth’s focus is on lineup size when he evaluates the rest of the West. During his post-deadline media session, he made references to the newly bolstered frontcourts in Sacramento (Domantas Sabonis, Jonas Valanciunas), Los Angeles (LeBron James, Mark Williams) and Dallas (Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Derek Lively II). He alluded to the center tandem in Minnesota that thwarted the Nuggets last season. And he confessed that Denver’s backup center position is “a concern,” particularly if Gordon remains hampered by injuries.

“I think DeAndre (Jordan) has done an admirable job, but he’s long in the tooth,” Booth said. “… The league goes in cycles. It’s getting bigger. I think having positional integrity and being able to play people at their proper positions and being big at the five is something that I think is important. Obviously, when we have Joker in there, we’re like that. And DeAndre, again, he has that size, but it’d be nice to have a legitimate bigger, younger guy.”

The Nuggets weren’t able to find that on the trade market — at least not for a price that satisfied their counterparts. Denver’s movable contracts were limited, in part because of multiple unsuccessful attempts to secure the very frontcourt depth Booth is determined to obtain. Dario Saric is getting paid the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.2 million with a 2025 player option) while sitting on the bench.

More notably, Zeke Nnaji is the team’s fifth-highest-paid player despite remaining mostly out of the rotation. He’s under contract for three more years.

“You look at our salary sheets, and there are only so many contracts outside of our main guys that can go out. So it’s pretty easy to figure what guys were gonna go out if we did a trade,” Booth said when asked how the team is navigating Nnaji’s future. “I think he’s been playing great lately. If we had made a move, he probably would have been elsewhere. But he’s here today, and hopefully, he keeps on showing what he can do.”

The 24-year-old has issued a statement of intent while replacing an injured Watson as Denver’s backup power forward recently, guarding the likes of Zion Williamson, Paolo Banchero and Miles Bridges effectively during the team’s five-game win streak. By playing the four next to Jokic or Jordan, Nnaji has fulfilled a role Booth has envisioned for him, keeping with the executive’s broader philosophy about frontcourt size and “positional integrity.”

Still, even if his recent play opens up more opportunity, it will take time for Nnaji to reestablish his value as a trade chip or rotation piece. For now, he remains one example of how the Nuggets have backed themselves into a roster-building corner. Trying to trade him this season was a tough sell. Movable draft capital (aside from pick swaps) was also sparse, forcing Booth to be picky about if and when to pull the trigger on a trade.

“When I took over the job, I had to put together or we had to put together organizationally a team that we felt like could compete,” he said. “And that started out by using some of our future assets to get draft picks to take Peyton Watson, to take Julian. So I think from the start of my tenure here, we haven’t been the bank. We’ve been the person going to the bank and asking for a mortgage. I think we’d like to get out of that cycle, but also, we realize that Joker’s time is now.”

As long as Jokic continues to play at an MVP level, the Nuggets will remain firmly in the mix of title contenders. How they shape themselves around him will determine whether Ball Arena hosts a second banner ceremony.

They have the sixth-best record in the NBA, but they are 2-7 against the five teams above them.

Booth’s perceived drop-off from seven to eight in the lineup doesn’t fall directly to Jordan or Nnaji. It starts in the backcourt with Strawther, a promising second-year guard who’s still developing in an everyday role.

“I think Julian’s had moments that are good, moments that are bad,” Booth said. “I think defensively, it’s going to be a challenge for him in the playoffs right now. And so hopefully if he’s getting playoff minutes, he’s humming offensively, which hasn’t always been there.”

It’s a lot to ask of a 22-year-old. And if Strawther can’t hang as a defender, Booth and the Nuggets will be asking a lot of a seven-man rotation with spacing limitations and no true backup center.

A fractured version of that rotation has Denver surging right now despite multiple injuries — evidence of the talent and cohesion needed for a deep playoff run. But Booth understands the roster is built for that run like a house of cards. If any reinforcements are out there, they are beyond the horizon line now, waiting to join Jokic in a future season.

“We’re going to need health,” Booth said, “as we’re constructed right now.”