Was Allen Iverson, I tapped the other day, actually good for the Nuggets?

Thinking …

Thinking …

Mixed bag. No shock.

“The good: Elite scoring. Playmaking. Excitement.

“The bad: Overlapping skills. Team success. The trade.”

Ah, yes. The trade. The Nuggets eventually swapped Iverson to Detroit in November 2008 after 135 games in blue and gold for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb.

Given almost 18 years of retrospection, AI was the better scorer. Mr. Big Shot was the better fit, better leader, better facilitator, better — well, everything else. The best prep hoopster Denver ever produced steadied George Karl’s ship, helping to march the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Elite scoring. Playmaking. Excitement.

Overlapping skills. Team success. The trade.

Carmelo then, Nikola Jokic now.

Allen Iverson then, LeBron James now.

Not the perfect parallel, granted. But both AI and King James are old dogs, set in their ways, who can’t necessarily be counted on to master new tricks this late in their careers.

Sure, Iverson was all kinds of fun in Denver, even into his 30s — but once a ball hog, always a ball hog. His Nuggs won 45 games in ’06-’07 and won 50 in ’07-08. Only those same Nuggets lost to the Spurs over five games in the first round of ’07 playoffs as AI averaged 22.8 points on 22.8 shots per game. In the ’08 postseason, it was another first-round loss, this time in four games to the Lakers, as Iverson averaged 24.5 points on 20.8 shots per contest.

King James’ Denver interest as a free agent is reportedly flagging, but it ain’t over ’til the fat whiteboard sings. Like AI two decades earlier, James turns the Nuggets into ESPN’s Team, which, by proxy, makes them America’s Team. It’s the Coach Prime Effect times 50. Denver becomes the NBA capital of the world. Ticket values skyrocket. Jerseys fly off the shelves. The King’s presence makes the Nuggs nationally relevant and a heck of a lot more fun to watch.

But like AI, does he make them … better? And better when it counts?

King James is only the second NBA player , our new cultural bar for all-time basketball greatness.  At age 35, he helped carry the Lake Show to a 2020 NBA title at the COVID bubble.

Yet in the six postseasons since, LeBron’s been knocked out in the first round of the playoffs three times, reached the Western Conference Finals once (2023), made the West semis once, and missed the bracket entirely once.

It’s a different game in April, May and June. Different rules. Different defenses. Different calls. But over five playoff runs that followed, he’s only topped the 120 mark in offensive efficiency one other time (2025) and his OR dipped to 109 this past spring while he shot 45.9% from the floor and 32.7% on treys.

If the King’s expected final season was strictly about basketball, purely about joy on the court, it would be the Nuggets, wouldn’t it?  Jokic and Old Man Bron are basketball brothers, hoops savants who always seem to be two to three steps ahead of everyone else.

The Nuggets during the apex of The Joker Era — think 2020-2024 — were at their best when they were looking for the quick bucket on runouts, flipping defense into instant offense. Even if the engine doesn’t turn over as often as it used to, James can still fly at 41.

Joker hitting LeBron mid-stride while the latter runs skinny post routes up the court, then finishing with authority, They’d scare the pants off of even the best Western Conference defenses, Oklahoma City’s slap-happy, grabby mitts included. With King James in the fold, Thunder-Nuggets, for better or worse, would inevitably devolve into a free-throw contest between LeBron and SGA — a ratings boon and aesthetic flop.

Alas, even if the King says his final act isn’t about money, it is about staging. Staging and control.

For one, the buzz says LeBron is lining up a documentary crew to film his version of the last NBA chapter. Can you picture Jokic ever being comfortable with camera crews that aren’t his hanging around to chronicle his every move in the locker room? Or on the bench? Or Kroenke Sports & Entertainment green-lighting an ongoing narrative in which they’ve got neither editorial oversight nor final cut?

For another, One More Ride For Posterity is also designed to end with a ring — or trying, at least. Shea (Thunder), Wemby (San Antonio), LaMelo Ball (Minnesota) and Luka (Lakers) give the Western Conference four of the league’s best six teams. With all apologies to Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, the road to the crown is still simpler and easier via the Eastern Conference route.

Philly is risky, Miami is trite and Cleveland is hackneyed. But if you want the Last Dance to end in confetti, those might be the smarter plays for James’ camp.

The Nuggets’ second-smartest move right now would be to give Peyton Watson $20 million. The smartest would be to facilitate a trade that flips P-Swat into two P-Swat clones. Jokic turns 32 on February 19. If there’s a debate on Chopper Circle between “Elite Scoring” and “Team Success,” it better darn well be a short one.

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All in all, the Nuggets have reached the playoffs 17 out of 25 seasons in the new millennium, winning 55% of their regular-season games with nine 50-win seasons. They’ve won 12 playoff series. They’ve had only five All-Stars — but three of them have been inducted to the Hall of Fame, while another has three MVP awards and counting.

We all love a round number, so to reflect on the last 25 years of basketball — almost half of the franchise’s existence under the “Nuggets” name — we assembled The Denver Post brain trust to vote on an All-Quarter Century Nuggets Team.

Five of our staffers who cover the Nuggets voted on a First Team and a Second Team. Five players who received votes but didn’t make the 10-man rotation were also included as reserves.

The voting body was made up of yours truly, sports columnist Troy Renck, sports columnist Sean Keeler, sports editor and Nuggets Ink Podcast host Matt Schubert, and photographer and Nuggets Ink producer AAron Ontiveroz. Note: Statistics and accolades before the 2000-01 season were not taken into account in the voting process.

First Team

Point guard: Chauncey Billups (2008-11)

When building a ceremonial fake roster like this, there’s an inherent conflict between longevity with the team and short-term excellence. Mr. Big Shot technically played only one full season in Denver during the 2000s (but more than half of two other seasons). He made the most of his 201 regular-season games, averaging 18.1 points and 5.1 assists. He earned an All-Star nod and finished 12th in 2009-10 MVP voting.

More importantly, in 2008-09, Billups helped lead his hometown team to its first Western Conference Finals appearance in 24 years. The George Washington High School and CU alum shot 46.8% from 3-point range during that 16-game playoff run, averaging 20.6 points and 6.8 assists.

As a result, Billups was a First-Team honoree on all but one ballot. He’s best remembered nationally as a Finals MVP with Detroit, but his significance to Denver basketball history adds to his case here.

Shooting guard: Jamal Murray (2016-present)

One of the best players of his generation to never make an All-Star Game or All-NBA team (yet), Murray lacks the on-paper success of a few other Nuggets stars this century. Yet his status in franchise history is undeniable: He was one of three unanimous First-Team honorees in our vote.

Murray established a reputation as the quintessential “playoff riser” in the 2020 bubble, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NBA into quarantine. His battles with Donovan Mitchell were legendary. His iron will contributed to six consecutive wins in elimination games as Denver made it back to the WCF for the first time since 2009.

The torn ACL that knocked Murray out of two postseasons remains a major “what if” in Nuggets history. Could they have won the 2021 or 2022 championship with a healthy star guard? In his first season back from the injury, Murray was the ceiling-raiser Denver needed during a dominant run to the championship. His and Nikola Jokic’s dueling 30-point triple-doubles in Game 3 of the NBA Finals will immortalize Murray no matter what the future holds. He also had a not-so-sneaky case for Western Conference Finals MVP that year: 32.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game.

Small forward: Carmelo Anthony (2003-11)

It’s complicated, we know. But Carmelo erasure is just plain irresponsible. He was too good, too important to an entire era of Denver basketball. When you envision the baby blue uniforms, you probably think of him first.

Anthony saved the Nuggets before he walked out on them (if that’s what you want to call it). They were on a streak of eight consecutive losing seasons when they drafted him third overall in 2003. Then they proceeded to make the playoffs in all seven seasons he finished with Denver. The first-round exits are certainly part of his legacy, but he brought back competitive basketball after a decade of futility.

Anthony played more games for the Nuggets (564) than for any other team, including the Knicks. He was a four-time All-NBA honoree in Denver, a four-time All-Star. He averaged 24.8 points and 6.3 rebounds. He got the team within two wins of the NBA Finals against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. Then came the infamous 2011 trade, the origins of which are still being litigated on podcasts and social media to this day. Much less controversial was Anthony’s First-Team status here. He was unanimous.

Power forward: Aaron Gordon (2021-present)

Nikola Jokic described Gordon during the 2025 playoffs as “the soul of this team.” Trading for the former Orlando Magic first option elevated the Nuggets to a new echelon of championship contention. In four full seasons (so far), he has morphed his play style to complement Jokic, transforming into a super-role player and becoming a fan favorite in the process. Hence his place here, with three First-Team votes.

The stats don’t jump off the page, but the versatility is unparalleled. Gordon is a power forward in the traditional sense, but the Nuggets have used him as a point guard, a center, and almost everything in between.

He cemented his legacy this year with a pair of memorable game-winning buckets: the first buzzer-beater slam dunk in NBA playoff history, and a 3-pointer to complete a stunning comeback in Oklahoma City. Even though Denver didn’t win the title, fans will relive those moments for decades.

Center: Nikola Jokić (2015-present)

Awkward yet graceful, perpetually battle-scarred by his dominant physicality yet possessed by a preference for finesse, Jokic is a revolutionary center. His spot on this roster was always going to be the most obvious and anticlimactic. The more suitable topic for him is where he lands in relation to John Elway and Joe Sakic on the list of greatest athletes in Denver sports history.

Ten years in, he’s still adding to the following accolades: three MVPs, an NBA Finals MVP, seven consecutive All-NBA teams (five of them First-Team recognition). He just joined Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players to average a triple-double in a season. He’s on pace to break Westbrook’s career triple-doubles record. He’s the first player since Larry Bird to finish top-two in MVP voting five straight years. We could go on, but this paragraph might be outdated soon.

What can’t be expressed in those numbers is the lasting impact of the Joker: No basketball player has ever brought Coloradans as much joy and wonder.

Second Team

Point guard: Ty Lawson (2009-15)

Two Second-Team spots required a tiebreaker, including this one. A pair of us voted for Lawson, another pair for Andre Miller. The only person who omitted both from his ballot was Ontiveroz, so he was consulted for the deciding vote and chose Lawson, citing the “pure excitement” of watching him. Lawson averaged 14.4 points and 6.2 assists over six years in Denver. He finished 12th in MVP voting as the star of a 2012-13 Nuggets team that won 57 games — still tied for the most in franchise history.

Shooting guard: Allen Iverson (2006-08)

Another case of short-term elite play over longevity, Iverson played only 135 games as a Nugget but is technically in a club with Jokic, Anthony and Billups as the only players this century to represent Denver at multiple All-Star Games. In his one full season with the team, he averaged 26.4 points and 7.1 assists. Iverson received one First-Team vote in this exercise (over Billups).

Small forward: Michael Porter Jr. (2018-25)

MPJ is the fourth member of the championship team to make the cut. Recently traded to Brooklyn, his time in Denver was characterized by immense medical resilience. Porter overcame three back surgeries to average 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds over 345 games, many of them while wearing a brace on his foot. He ranks second in franchise history in 3-pointers (843) behind Murray, and he made them at a 40.6% clip.

Power forward: Nenê (2002-12)

The initial vote was deadlocked between Nene and Kenyon Martin, both of whom received one First-Team and one Second-Team vote. Keeler was assigned the tiebreaking vote in this case, and he chose the Brazilian forward who spent a decade in Denver. In 555 games, Nene averaged 12.4 points and seven rebounds, registering career-highs in both statistics during the 2008-09 season when Denver reached the conference finals.

Center: Marcus Camby (2002-08)

Center was the only position where all five voters agreed on the First- and Second-Team selections. Camby led the league in blocks per game three times in his six years with Denver. He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2006-07, making him the franchise’s only player to win the award since Dikembe Mutombo.

Reserves

An NBA roster isn’t complete without 15 players, so the All-Quarter Century Team has room for a Third Team made up of the following leftover vote-getters: Andre Miller, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danilo Gallinari, Kenyon Martin and Antonio McDyess (a 2001 All-Star).

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

The best defender in the Ivy League had grabbed an aerosol-sized can full of oxygen. Mbeng pressed the business end to his mouth, leaned back at his locker stall and took a series of very loud, very deliberate breaths.

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

Dancing at 5,280 feet above sea level? Smart kids don’t miss a trick.

“My trainer and her assistant have done an unbelievable job in making sure my guys have oxygen, altitude sickness (medicine) and doing all those things to prepare them,” said Yale coach James Jones, whose No. 13 seed Bulldogs will take on No. 4 seed Texas A&M at 5:25 p.m. Thursday in the third of four first-round NCAA Tournament games at Ball Arena. “But I don’t think twice about it, to be honest with you.”

Deep breath, kids. This could get weird. Nobody does March Madness this century the way the Mile High City does March Madness. Of the last 12 first-round NCAA tourney games played at Ball Arena, five were won by a team seeded 11th or lower. Since 2011, no first-round Big Dance site has seen more upsets by an 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16 seed than Denver.

has a theory for that last one. Actually, he’s got two.

“If you come out here as a higher seed with the wrong type of mindset,” the CBS Sports analyst and former North Carolina center told me as we sat courtside Wednesday, “and then on top of that, you can’t breathe for the first five minutes of the game, it feels like your lungs are on fire.

“Next thing you know, you get down. It can become too much for you to overcome.”

Ask Purdue. Ask Seton Hall. Ask Vanderbilt. Ask Louisville. The only thing worse than not being able to breathe on national television is not being able to breathe on national TV while 19,000 people decide to get on your back.

“And you also understand in these types of settings, when you’re the higher seed, especially when you’re a 3 seed taking on a 14 seed, when the game is close, the whole building turns against you,” Haywood continued. “It turns into a road game.

“They want you to lose. … They want the upset, they want to see Goliath go down. So, if you’re the 3 seed or the 2 seed, and that game’s close, it’s going to turn on you very quickly. So, I say that, combined with the altitude, is probably the reason.”

San Jose and Spokane also have seen five bracket-busting upsets since 2011. Could be a West Coast thing. Could be something else.

“Could be the time zone,” Haywood said with a grin. “But if you come out with the wrong type of mindset, it’s going to take you five minutes to get it (back).”

Deep breath. This could get funky.

On paper, Thursday’s first round has the potential for all kinds of beautiful chaos. The Big Ten blue bloods here, No. 3 seed Wisconsin and No. 5 seed Michigan, flew in after slugging it out in the conference title game on Sunday. Montana, the Badgers’ opening-round foe, Big Sky champs and perennial Greeley killjoys, are already used to running around at altitude. Plus, the Grizz have maybe the best name of any team here in guard Money Williams, a Bay Area kid (13.3 points per game, 56 3-pointers) with ice in his veins.

Save your strength for the final game of the night. Michigan’s dance partner, 12th-seeded UC San Diego, comes into downtown making roughly 11 treys per tilt. The Tritons won 30 games. Their mascot, , looks as if The Good Lord decided to with a . He’s fun. They’re fun. They’ve also got just one player on their roster taller than 6-foot-8, while Michigan has three.

“We’ve got six Division II transfers,” Tritons coach Eric Olen said Wednesday. “We don’t look the part. Yeah, I think we embrace that a little bit.”

So do the Bulldogs. Like a warm blanket.

“I think we like being the underdog, to be honest,” told me. “I think we like being rooted against, we like being undervalued. And I think that’s what makes Yale basketball great is that we prove everyone wrong.”

Yeah, but what happens when half the office pools in the country think you’re the right sleeper? The ‘Dogs have been down this road before, having knocked off 4th-seeded Auburn in Spokane at this time a year ago. Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams can pop in the Auburn tape to scare the crud out of his guys, so the element of surprise is toast.

“We lost the nerd advantage,” Yale forward Riley Fox chuckled. “Now it’s just pure basketball.”

Fortunately, Jones’ Bulldogs are air-tight, bright and don’t beat themselves. Yale ranks among the top 25 nationally in three critical Madness statistical indicators: turnover rate (19th); defensive rebounding rate (22nd) and 3-point shooting percentage (ninth). The Aggies, meanwhile, roll into the Front Range having dropped five of their last seven.

“Back when I played, they used to just let us come to Denver and die the first five minutes of the game,” Haywood recalled. “We didn’t have any (oxygen). When I played, Denver would come out — (the Nuggets) had Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, they would just run the court like gazelles. We’re over there, our mouths are white, our lips are chapped, we can’t breathe. We’re subbing out, and they’re just fine.

“Let’s just say my conclusion, or my reason for it, would be the altitude.”

To that end, each Yale player after their news conference had that same aerosol-sized can of portable oxygen waiting at, or near, their locker. Just in case.

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

Hooooo-ahhhhhh

“You think that’ll help?” I asked Mullin, pointing at the cylinder.

“I’m not totally sure,” he replied. “I think it’s helping. But honestly? I have no idea.”

Deep breath. This could get nuts.

Anthony, 40, is among 16 individual finalists for the 2025 class, 10 of whom were players. He was also part of the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, nicknamed “The Redeem Team,” that was recognized as a finalist.

The new Hall of Fame class will be unveiled on April 5 at the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

Anthony played the first seven full years of his NBA career with the Nuggets, earning All-NBA honors four times in Denver before he was traded to the New York Knicks 50 games into his eighth season, in February 2011. The blockbuster deal included a pick swap that allowed the Nuggets to draft Jamal Murray five years later, helping set the course for them to win their first NBA championship in 2023.

Anthony has disputed that he ever demanded a trade from Denver, but has publicly maintained that the messy divorce between Anthony and Denver was initiated by the player.

“As far as Denver goes, my love for Denver is high,” . “I hold Denver damn near where I hold New York at, because it was the beginning. We built that.”

The Nuggets made the playoffs every year of the Anthony era but only progressed past the first round once. In 2009, Anthony and Chauncey Billups led the franchise to its first Western Conference Finals since 1985, but the Lakers ended the run in six games.

In 564 games with Denver — the most he played for any team — Anthony averaged 24.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.

There are nine players who appeared in 100 or more games with the Nuggets enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame: Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, David Thompson, George McGinnis, Charlie Scott, Alex English, Dikembe Mutombo, Allen Iverson and most recently Billups, who was inducted last year.

The NBA shares a Hall of Fame with the rest of its sport, honoring accomplishments in men’s and women’s basketball, as well as international competition.

No. 10 George McGinnis for Alex English

Date: Feb. 1, 1980

Details: The Nuggets traded former ABA MVP George McGinnis for third-year pro Alex English and a 1980 first-round pick that eventually became Carl Nicks.

Synopsis: McGinnis’ best days were behind him, and he was out of the NBA by 1982. English, on the other hand, was just getting started. The silky smooth forward averaged 25.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists over the next 11 seasons with the Nuggets, including eight all-star nods and three All-NBA selections.

No. 9 Tulo to Toronto

Date: July 27, 2015

Details: First-year general manager Jeff Bridich dealt Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco.

Synopsis: Trade rumors swirled around Tulo all offseason before Bridich pulled off a deadline deal. The Jays reached the ALCS that October and the next, with Tulo hitting 29 homers over 172 games before injuries derailed his career. Of the four players Colorado got back, Hoffman’s 6-5 season in 2017 represented the apex.

No. 8 Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey

Date: March 4, 2004

Details: The Broncos sold high on running back Clinton Portis, sending him to Washington for Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey and a 2004 second-round pick.

Synopsis: After topping 3,000 yards over two years in Denver, Portis posted four more 1,000-yard seasons for a Washington team that won one playoff game over his seven years there. Bailey was a first-team All-Pro his first three years in Denver and second-team All-Pro two more times over a 10-year stint with the Broncos that cemented his Hall of Fame status.

No. 7 Carmelo Anthony & Chauncey Billups

Date: Feb. 22, 2011

Details: The three-way trade involving the Knicks and Timberwolves saw the Nuggets acquire Kosta Koufos, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and four New York draft picks. The Knicks got franchise icon ‘Melo and homegrown hero Billups, plus some other non-marquee players such as Shelden Williams and Corey Brewer.

Synopsis: GM Masai Ujiri blew up the Nuggets’ roster a year and a half following the team’s Western Conference Finals trip. Denver used one of the first-round picks it got to draft Jamal Murray in 2016.

No. 6 Mikko Rantanen

Date: Jan. 24, 2025

Details: With Mikko Rantanen months away from unrestricted free agency, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland sent the winger to Carolina in a three-team deal that netted forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury and second-round (2025) and fourth-round (2026) picks.

Synopsis: Only time will tell if MacFarland made the right move dealing Rantanen in-season rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency. If this move sets up another deal down the line, Colorado’s Stanley Cup aspirations remain intact.

No. 5 Holliday for CarGo

�ٲ��ٱ�:��Nov. 10, 2008

�ٱ�ٲ�������:��GM Dan O’Dowd flipped Matt Holliday, a central figure in the team’s 2007 pennant run, in exchange for one of the top young outfielders in the game, Carlos Gonzalez. Colorado also got closer Huston Street and starter Greg Smith.

Synopsis: Holliday lasted a half-season with the A’s before being traded to St. Louis; the Rockies got a three-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger in CarGo. Plus, they got a reliable closer in Street (84 saves in three years).

No. 4 Patrick Roy

Date: Dec. 6, 1995

�ٱ�ٲ�������:��The Avalanche acquired the 30-year-old Roy and winger Mike Keane from Montreal in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and Jocelyn Thibault.

����ԴDZ������:��Roy turned a great career into a Hall of Fame one with Colorado, leading the Avs to a pair of Stanley Cup titles. Keane made an impact on the 1996 title team as well, while none of the players the Canadians got so much as made an all-star team. The trade immediately altered the trajectory of the Avs, who had just relocated from Quebec.

No. 3 John Elway

�ٲ��ٱ�:��May 2, 1983

�ٱ�ٲ�������:��Baltimore took Elway with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 draft, but the Stanford product refused to play for them. Using the leverage of a potential pro baseball career, Elway forced a trade to Denver six days after the draft in exchange for quarterback Mark Hermann, offensive tackle Chris Hinton and the Broncos’ first-round pick the next year (Ron Solt).

����ԴDZ������:��Chris Hinton was a perennial Pro Bowler on the Colts’ offensive line, but beyond that, this was a fleecing. Elway racked up 148 regular-season wins and played in five Super Bowls, winning the last two over the Packers and Falcons.

No. 2 Nolan Arenado

�ٲ��ٱ�:��Feb. 1, 2021

�ٱ�ٲ�������:��GM Jeff Bridich traded Arenado to the Cardinals, and sent over approximately $51 million, to unload the Rockies star to St. Louis in exchange for one young left-handed pitcher (Austin Gomber) and four prospects (infielder Mateo Gil, right-hander Tony Locey, infielder Elehuris Montero and right-hander Jake Sommers).

Synopsis: GM Jeff Bridich’s last big move doesn’t look quite as bad as it once did. Arenado turned in three more All-Star seasons in St. Louis, but his production has since tailed off and now the Cardinals are looking to deal him. Gomber (4.75 ERA) is coming off a solid 2024, but is the only real asset Colorado got back.

No. 1 Russell Wilson

�ٲ��ٱ�:��March 8, 2022

�ٱ�ٲ�������:��General manager George Paton traded two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant to the Seahawks for quarterback Russell Wilson and a fourth-round pick.

����ԴDZ������:��The biggest trade in Colorado sports history also doubles as the biggest dud. Wilson signed a five-year, $242.6 million extension with the Broncos a few months after being acquired … and didn’t play one down of that deal before Denver cut him in March 2024.

Honorable mention

• Nuggets trade David Thompson to Supersonics for Bill Hanzlik and first-round pick (1982)
• Nuggets trade Kiki Vandeweghe to Blazers for Wayne Cooper, Fat Lever, Calvin Natt and two draft picks (1984)
• Nuggets trade Fat Lever to Mavericks for two first-round picks (1990)
• Rockies trade Larry Walker to Cardinals for Jason Burch, Luis Martinez and Chris Narveson (2004)
• Nuggets trade Allen Iverson to Pistons for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb (2008)
• Nuggets trade Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two first-round draft picks (2007) to 76ers for Allen Iverson and Ivan McFarlin.
• Broncos trade Jay Cutler and fifth-round pick to Bears for Kyle Orton and three picks (2009)
• Rockies trade Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland for Alex White, Joe Gardner, Matt McBride and Drew Pomeranz (2011)
• Avalanche trade Matt Duchene to Senators for Sam Girard, Shane Bowers, Vladislav Kamenev and three draft picks (2017).

Full disclosure: The usual gang of idiots up in the Grading The Week offices think OTAs are slightly overrated. OK, completely overrated. It����ap another example of the NFL trying to suck all the oxygen out of the room for an entire calendar year. Another excuse to make the media take attendance and the sports-talk hosts windmills churn during a sports calendar that����ap about to slow down to a crawl. (Darn you, Nuggs and Avs!)

And it usually works. But as a “bar” for “dedication” to a club, or heck, even winning, it����ap a spotty barometer, historically. Seven players skipped the Chiefs’ OTA session on Thursday, including star defensive tackle Chris Jones, left guard Joe Thuney and cornerback Jaylen Watson.

Guess what? Team GTW will bet you Travis Kelce’s signing bonus that Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are probably going to be just fine come the fall.

As for Sutton, well …

Courtland Sutton and the Ring of Fame – D

… let����ap just give the big guy an “A” for intent. And an “F” for the execution.

While the Broncos were grinding through OTAs on Thursday, Sutton tweeted out congratulations to Riley Odoms and Steve Foley for their selection to the organization’s Ring of Fame. On one hand, classy move.

On the other, Sutton posted it during a window when his team was practicing without him. The veteran wideout is, to date, the most public no-show for the first big team-centric events of Year 2 of the Sean Payton Era.

Now, again, to paraphrase our old pal Allen Iverson, we’re talkin’ about OTAs here. And yet it was a more than curious look for Sutton to congratulate Odoms and Foley in his post while noting that making the Ring of Fame “has always been one of the goals outside winning a Super Bowl in Denver!”

And, hey, one of GTW’s goals is to win the lottery. Another is to buy a PS5 so we can spend whatever free time we have in July and August playing “EA Sports College Football 25” until the crack of dawn like we’re 28 again.

But, odds are, neither of those things are gonna happen. Just like, odds are, unless Sutton is part of a Broncos playoff team, and a contributing asset to said playoff team, that whole “Ring of Fame” thing’s just a pipe dream.

Although it����ap still more likely than him landing a serious raise from the Broncos. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says Sutton’s camp would like to jump from the $13.6 million he’s slated to make in cash to the “$15-16-million range.” Groovy.  And the GTW kids would like a pony.

Shilo Sanders’ NIL reality – D

You’ve got to understand something about life on Planet Prime: Like a certain former president who’s pretty much always in the news, the truth isn’t necessarily the truth. The truth is what you make it.

A video is shot of Deion Sanders’ kids showing their dad a sweet house in Boulder, so the truth must be that they’ve bought that house for him. (They didn’t.) The Buffs won three more games in 2023 (4-8) than 2022 (1-11), so the truth is that some serious corners must have been turned on the coaching front. (They weren’t.)

On3.com estimates — and “estimates” is the key word here — that CU safety Shilo Sanders is worth roughly $1.1 million in endorsements tied to his name, image and likeness (NIL). But when a Texas court found the younger Sanders liable for $11.89 million for an altercation with a security guard when the Buffs safety was just 15 years old, Team Deion’s books looked nothing like the estimates. Shilo’s petition to bankruptcy court claimed he made $193,713 from January to October 2023; $216,950 in 2022; and $17,360 in 2021. See, when it comes to the Coach Prime Show, that whole “keep receipts” thing works both ways.

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And, to be frank, there are a lot of things the kids are perfectly fine with shaming CU Buffs fans for right now. Most of them involve the fanatical desire to follow Deion Sanders around like a slice of lemmings, even if that means trailing him to the edge of a seaside cliff and taking the plunge. (He won’t, of course. But he’ll expect you, too. Out of fealty.)

But there are some lows even we won’t stoop to, even with The Cult of Prime breathing down our collective necks. And that includes shaming a fan base for not attending … practice.

And by practice, we mean a spring game. Because that’s what a spring “game” really, truly, is.

Pundits chiding CU, CSU fans for spring game attendance — F

The GTW crew would bet you Mike Florio wouldn’t pay $15 to sit for 75 minutes straight in an old stadium when it’s 38 degrees, cloudy as a cup of tea, with a wind nippy enough to blow drizzle up your nose. Conditions for Coach Prime’s second game were more Inverness than BoCo, but tens of thousands of brave souls buried themselves inside giant ponchos and sat through it anyway. For a practice. A practice with an admission price.

So imagine our amusement when Florio, longtime NFL blogger with NBC Sports, came out this past Sunday morning and chucked Buffs fans under the bus. “The bloom is off the rose in Boulder,” he wrote, as CU reported an attendance of 28,424 after drawing 47,000 in the snow for the first Prime Era spring game in April 2023.

Couple things. First, a drop of nearly 20,000 tickets is not the rosiest of indicators, even for an exhibition, and Team GTW was shocked to hear Deion admit it hadn’t been sold out a few days before the event. The honeymoon isn’t over, yet. Still, it’s fair to say, after 3-0 turned to 4-8, that neutrals around town remain … skeptical.

But to paraphrase Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice, here. Anyone who sat through the entirety of the event, which wrapped up not long after the Pac-12 Network live feed ended — it took up a 60-minute block of their Saturday schedule — deserves a free pair of Prime’s Blenders shades.

And the same goes for the snow that fell during CSU’s spring game the weekend prior. Although, we can imagine what Rams fans would like to do to those Deion sunglasses right about now.

Rockies and leads — D-

Say this for the Rox: When they said they were going to make you forget about how bad 2023 felt, it was no joke.

What they didn’t say? That they were going to do it by somehow making 2024 feel even worse.

From last Saturday night through Friday morning, Dick Monfort’s Cockpit Crashers had put up an 0-5 mark for the week, including an 0-3 roadie at similarly flailing Miami, a series that featured two extra-inning defeats, to drop the Local 9 to 7-24.

In trying to process this, the crack GTW statniks whipped out their calculators and a couple bottles of Excedrin. The Rox lost a club-record 103 games a year ago. Fangraphs.com’s projections, as of late Friday afternoon, had the current club on a pace to pip that mark, projecting 104 defeats. PECOTA.com’s computers think they’ll crush it, pegging the Purple for 107 losses, most in baseball and even more than their insular American League cousins, the woebegone Chicago White Sox (102 projected losses).

But it’s not just that the Rockies are bad. You expected that. It’s that they’re losing in the most soul-crushing, fan-killing, creative ways imaginable. They’re making history, setting a new MLB record for trailing in 31 straight games going into Friday’s soggy tilt at Pittsburgh. And for that, even the cynics on Team GTW have to tip our caps.

Because of a flick of a wrist, LeBron James is gone. And he took Anthony Davis with him. The Nuggets vanquished the Lakers, beating them for the 12th time in 13 games to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Denver got the win. Los Angeles got the whine.

No more stamping of feet, throwing arms in the air and begging for calls. The LLLLakers are over. They have morphed into the Dallas Cowboys the past four years, more famous for their brand than their results.

Now we can focus on basketball, not sideshows and news conferences. Before we dive into the Xs and Os of Nuggets vs. T-Wolves, can we savor the latest Oh My!

In Game 2, Murray made a shot. It will forever be immortalized in pictures and portraits as he walked off the Lakers at the buzzer as he lay flat on his back. In Game 5, he made another shot, an eight-footer that left the Lakers with no response.

If it feels like nobody has ever done this, well, that����ap because they haven’t. Since play-by-play logs became a thing in the 1997-98 season, Murray is the only player to score a pair of winning shots in the final five seconds of a playoff series.

The juxtaposition remains alarming.

During his eight-year career, Murray has averaged 17.2 points per game, tying his career-high with 21.2 this season. He has never made an All-Star Game, never been named All-NBA. His lone honor is a 2016 rookie of the month for November. His win share numbers are similar to Mario Elie and Pooh Richardson.

But get him to the postseason, and his comps are Allen Iverson, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. It is the most unique thing I have ever witnessed in covering pro sports. During the regular season, he is Ozzie and Harriet. In the playoffs, he’s Ozzy Osbourne.

Feel cheated you never got to see David Thompson dunk, Fat Lever pass or Michael Adams shoot? Murray becomes all three of these players in one in the postseason. He averages 24.7 points, which includes a pair of 50-point games. He eliminated the Lakers with a 32-point performance on a sore left calf that made it difficult for him to jump, other than on his fourth-quarter dunk over James that ended with a mirror-worthy flex.

Murray is the modern NBA. We demand that our players perform their best when it matters most. This is how we determine legacies and win barstool arguments. No one has a more unique resume than the Nuggets guard. He relishes the idea of playing the same opponent multiple times. It means they know what he is going to do and they still can’t stop him.

So many players talk about wanting the ball as the clock creeps toward its expiration, but then they sneak out a side door. They puff out their chests, then page Dr. Heimlich.

Not Murray. He is built for the moment.

When Murray dribbled the ball near the Nuggets bench with 14 seconds left, there was no need for a timeout. We all knew what was coming. Nikola Jokic executed a swim move worthy of an edge rusher to shed Davis and set a bump screen on Austin Reeves. Reeves was left to chase Murray toward the foul line. Did you really think a guy who looks like Cameron was going to upstage Ferris Bueller? Murray sank the jumper with 3.6 seconds left.

In a satisfied, but not celebratory locker room, I asked Aaron Gordon what goes through his mind when Murray takes a last-second shot.

“Cash,” he said.

Murray is money. None of this is by accident. He is revered by teammates for his work ethic, his slow heartbeat and dispassionate focus. He does everything from meditation breathing to MMA sparring to prepare for those seconds of crisis.

“He is undeniable,” said Peyton Watson.

Watching Murray limp on defense and lose to gravity on jump shots, it felt like there would be no saccharine cliches necessary on this night. But, there is a little hustle to Murray’s game. He can miss badly for long stretches, then his shot becomes smoother than left-out butter.

“When he got to that middie, I knew he would make it,” Michael Porter Jr. said.

It is odd, if not completely incongruous.

There are times during the regular season you wonder where he is. His stat line seems like shrugged shoulders. But put Murray in a big spot with time mocking him in the playoffs and he becomes MacGyver, defusing bombs with duct tape, Tic-Tacs and chicken wire.

“He is a tough shot maker. I think he makes more tough shots than easy, open looks,” Jokic said. “He really loves those situations. I am really confident in him.”

Two shots. Same outcome.

Well, this one was a little different.

“I saw this one go in,” Murray said.

The Broncos’ ideal bridge quarterback has surfaced from his “Space Oddity,” otherwise known as retirement. Wouldn’t it be something if Denver attempted to lure Tom Brady back this season?

The idea is preposterous. Or is it? Why would Brady, who turns 47 on Aug. 3, want to return to the NFL? For the same reason rock stars date supermodels – because he can.

Appearing on Shadow Lion’s DeepCut Podcast, Brady was asked if he would answer the phone if a team called this upcoming season. A simple no would have sufficed. Instead, he appeared to send a message to the league.

“I am not opposed to it. I don’t know if they’d let me if I become an owner of an NFL team,” said Brady, who has been attempting to purchase a stake in the Raiders for months. “I don’t know. I am always going to be in good shape. I am always going to be able to throw the ball. To come in for a little bit, like MJ (Michael Jordan) coming back, um, I don’t know if they’d let me but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan admitted in February that he was serious about offering Brady a one-year deal to start the 2023 season when Brock Purdy’s elbow injury created uncertainty. Is it crazy to think a team won’t text Brady this summer or fall? Joe Flacco, nowhere near the player or health maven Brady is, had not started since 2017 and led the Browns to the playoffs last season.

Why would the Broncos even be in the mix? Coach Sean Payton. It wouldn’t be the first time these two have been connected. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was suspended part of last season, fined $1.5 million and the team docked a 2023 first-round pick and a third-round selection in 2024 for illegally tampering with Brady and Payton as he tried to bring them to Miami.

Wouldn’t it be funny if Payton reached out to Brady, who would have Jarrett Stidham as his backup? Just like old times. DraftKings created odds, favoring Brady staying in the Fox Broadcast booth. If he does return, the Patriots are +250, followed by the Raiders and the field at +400 and the 49ers at +800. If Brady returns, it makes sense that it would be for a contender.

But there is hope for Denver. Didn’t Jordan also play for the Washington Wizards?

Avs coach Jared Bednar refreshingly eschewed diplomacy. Asked if Saturday’s game vs. Winnipeg was akin to the postseason, he said, “It really is. At the end of the day you gotta win if you want home ice.” …

Tiger Woods made history at The Masters on Friday, making a tournament record 24 consecutive cuts. I am not even sure I could make 24 straight cuts at Sports Clips. …

The 76ers unveiled a statue of Allen Iverson. Long overdue. The problem? It����ap closer to the size of an action figure than Iverson. …

Disgraced translator Ippei Mizuhura surrendered to authorities on Friday. The federal investigation declared Shohei Ohtani as the victim of fraud in excess of $16 million. The inspection of 2,700 text messages between the pair over nearly seven years revealed no discussion of gambling, helping clear Ohtani. The documents provided show Mizuhura’s betrayal, deep gambling addiction and why Ohtani should fire everyone associated with his agency immediately.  …

The college coaching carousel has finally settled with John Calipari going to Arkansas and Mark Pope taking over Kentucky. I was a little surprised more Power 5 schools didn’t try to lure away CSU’s Niko Medved. My guess is he could have landed the Oklahoma State job if he wanted, but it speaks to his comfort and loyalty to the Rams.

Mail Time

For the Nuggets, it is clear they have no legit backup to give Nikola (Jokic) a breather. The majority of folks mention Bruce (Brown when talking about bench concerns). However, I think we miss Uncle Jeff (Green) as much if not more.

Tim Schimberg

Tim raises an interesting question. I do have trepidation about Denver’s bench even as playing time shrinks in the postseason. Green averaged 17 minutes and 4 points per game over the 20-game championship run. He was a calming force. My belief is Aaron Gordon will play the five more in the postseason and Peyton Watson will shine in his limited role, making up for his lack of offense with blocks and altered shots.

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“In New Orleans, it was the same,” offered Harper, the SEC Network analyst and ex-Alabama great who played his first eight NFL seasons under Payton in New Orleans. “But he believes in his way. Because if you’ve had success doing it one time when you’re young, you’re going to believe you can do it again.”

Big Easy football icon Deuce McAllister, who’d literally carried the Saints across the line for years, was released after 2008, Payton’s third season as coach. In 2006, Payton’s first season in Louisiana, the Saints were led by a Pro Bowl stalwart who was strong on the field and even better off it, a giving soul who’d visited fans displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The Saints cut him the next March. Joe Horn, meet Justin Simmons.

“I’m not shocked,” Harper told me by phone Tuesday, about the time linebacker Josey Jewell joined Simmons, Russell Wilson and Jerry Jeudy in the Broncos Alumni Club. “I would say this any time a new regime comes in, that none of those things shock you.

“It should put everybody on heightened awareness. It’s about what-have-you-done-for-me-lately. I think (Payton) runs a tight ship. He’s not (just) a players’ coach, so you just have to — he wants the sustained success, so you have to win.”

before Week 1 last season, three of them — Wilson, Simmons and Kareem Jackson — are now off the roster. A fourth, Courtland Sutton, recently scrubbed any references to playing for the Broncos and “X” accounts.

“Then you see somebody like Russell Wilson being let go and still being owed a huge amount of money,” Harper continued. “What it tells you is that the (Broncos) ownership group chose Payton and his future over Russell Wilson.”

Payton’s replaced Big Russ as the face of ����apountry, love it or lump it. And those who know him best say he’s just getting warmed up.

“Winning cures everything,” Harper said. “So when you don’t win, it’s changes that always happen. Nobody gets to have a non-winning season in the NFL and then change doesn’t happen.”

Harper was part of Payton’s first draft class in New Orleans 18 years ago, probably the greatest one-year haul in franchise history: tailback Reggie Bush in the first round; safety Harper in the second; guard Jahri Evans in the fourth; defensive end Rob Ninkovich in the fifth; and guard and and wideout Marques Colston in the seventh.

To hear Harper tell it, Sunshine Sean and Big Russ were doomed from the start. Each was too stubborn, too set in their respective ways, to come around to the other guy’s vantage.

“(Wilson) was just never a natural fit,” Harper said. “Russ likes to cook. It’s more of an off-schedule, roll around a bit (style) … it’s never a 3-step-drop or a 5-step drop-and-throw.

“Although I don’t know what (the Steelers) are trying to run now, but Ben Roethlisberger was never a QB that threw on time, consistently. He was never the 5-step-drop-and-throw (type), the way Sean would would probably love his offense to be run and be coordinated.

“It was a little bit difficult for Russ. So that (breakup) never surprised me.”

As a Bill Parcells disciple, Payton has always been down on free spirits, down on me-first guys. During his first training camp with the Saints, he opened a meeting by putting the names of the 2004 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball roster up on an overhead projector, a star-studded group that included Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, and a teenaged LeBron James, all coached by Larry Brown.

“Look at these players. This is one of the greatest collections of talent ever assembled,” he reportedly said of the Olympians, who lost by 19 to Puerto Rico and wound up with the bronze. “But they didn’t win. They weren’t the best team.”

Winning cures everything. Until that corner turns, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many bodies get chucked under the bus, nobody’s truly safe.

“And so sometimes, you’ve got to go young,” Harper said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to flip a roster upside down to get the results needed.”

Four paths will get you off Broncos Parkway or Potomac Street But only two roads really count in Dove Valley anymore: Sean’s way or the highway. And ne’er the twain.

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