The big reason to expect the Nuggets to move quickly to entertain trade scenarios: a fear that if they don't, they will wind up like the Cavaliers and Raptors, getting "LeBron'd", as one Denver writer called it While both eventually got something in return for LeBron James and Chris Bosh in sign-and-trades, it paled against what they might have gotten if they had done trade earlier. Nothing of what they received will provide either team with anything to help them in the near future.
Here's what Cleveland and Toronto got for two of the game's biggest stars...and what Denver would like to avoid:
MIAMI GETS:
* LeBron James, who signs a six-year, $109.8 million contract instead of a smaller five year deal.
CLEVELAND GETS:
* Two first-round picks, that must be used starting in 2013 and ending by 2017
* 2012 second-round pick Miami received from New Orleans
* Future second-round pick Heat acquired from Oklahoma City
* Cleveland can also swap first round picks with the Heat in 2012
* A $14,500,000 exception that the Cavs must use in trades before July 9, 2011
MIAMI GETS:
* Chris Bosh, who signs a six-year, $109.8 million contract, instead of a smaller five year deal.
TORONTO GETS:
* Its own 2011 first-round pick (initially sent to Miami in the 2009 Shawn Marion-Jermaine O'Neal trade)
* A $14,500,000 trade exception that the Raptors must use in trades before July 9, 2011.
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No matter what, draft picks are likely to be key in an deal for Anthony as it begins to rebuild. For the record, the Nets have 10 draft picks over the next three years, more than any other team:
2011 - Their own first rounder plus their own second rounder and the Warriors' unprotected second rounder. (three picks)
2012 - Their own first rounder, the Warriors' lightly protected (1-7) first rounder*, plus their own second rounder, the Bulls second rounder and the Heat second rounder. (five picks)
2013 - Their own first rounder plus their own second rounder. (two picks)
*Should the protections on the Warrior pick prevent the Nets from using that pick in 2012, it is protected, again 1-7 in 2013, and 1-6 in 2014. Should the protections still prevent the Nets from using that pick by 2014, the Nets will receive the Warriors' second rounders in 2014 and 2016.