Denver Nuggets Receive: G Kemba Walker, UTA 2023 2nd Round Pick (via NYK)
New York Knicks Receive: F JaMychal Green, DEN 2024 2nd Round Pick (Top-45 Protected)
Kemba Walker is on a very movable contract, hence why a few teams could show interest in him ahead of the trade deadline this year. Being owed just $8.7M this season and then $9.2M next season, Walker is really not taking up much space on any team’s roster and while the Denver Nuggets definitely have a cap issue right now, they could settle this deal pretty easily by giving up JaMychal Green.
Denver did just ink Green to a two-year, $16.4M contract this past offseason, but he has held a very minimal role on this team this season. JaMychal Green has played in 24 of the Nuggets’ 25 games this season but is only averaging about 14.7 minutes per game, the lowest of his career since his first year or so in the NBA.
Obviously, with P.J. Dozier and Michael Porter Jr. being out indefinitely now, but with Jeff Green, Zeke Nnaji, and Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets could get away with moving Green.
They do have a lot of talent already in their backcourt with Monte Morris, Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers, and rookie Bones Hyland, but adding Kemba Walker gives the Nuggets another high-level talent that has been “the guy” on teams in the past.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Knicks Expected To Trade Kemba Walker Ahead Of Deadline
Maybe his knees and legs will let him be the same All-Star-level talent he once was, but being able to play off of Nikola Jokic, Walker may be able to rekindle some of his old magic and be a key secondary scorer that this team is missing right now. Since Michael Porter Jr. went down, the Denver Nuggets have struggled to find consistent scoring, hence why they could show interest in Kemba Walker.
As for the New York Knicks, trading away Kemba Walker is something they do not necessarily want to do, as they could very well look to integrate him back into the rotation in the coming weeks, but the idea of a trade definitely has to be on the minds of Leon Rose and Scott Perry right now.
They really wanted to bring in Walker this offseason and have him be a focal point of the Knicks’ offensive attack, but things have not worked out, and cutting their losses now may not be a bad idea since Kemba still holds some value on the trade market.
Maybe JaMychal Green is not a player they would like to take back, as their frontcourt seems pretty solidified with guys like Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson, and Obi Toppin, but they could look to add another team to do this deal and get a key scorer on the wing or backcourt for Green.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Knicks Expected To Trade Kemba Walker Ahead Of Deadline
Guys like Terrence Ross (Magic), Eric Gordon (Rockets), Malik Beasley (Timberwolves), and Jeremy Lamb (Pacers) are all possible scoring weapons the Knicks could look to add to their roster ahead of the trade deadline and flipping JaMychal Green for one of them is definitely something that could happen.
Moving on from Kemba Walker is not something that we will see happen over the next week or so, but as we progress through the month of December and as we pass the December 15 deadline for recently signed players to become eligible to be traded, we could realistically see the New York Knicks field calls on Walker.
