{"id":73337,"date":"2025-07-18T18:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73337\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T18:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:36:11","slug":"nuggets-urged-to-sign-nba-champion-center-to-back-up-nikola-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73337\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets urged to sign NBA champion center to back up Nikola Jokic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Denver Nuggets have had some complications solving their backup center problem, but a surefire solution could be in play.<\/p>\n<p>After losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round, the Nuggets spent their offseason looking to add more depth around Nikola Jokic. Along with sending Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson, the Nuggets have signed some other key veterans, including Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>While those were all great moves, the most praised move from Denver was its trade that sent Dario Saric to Sacramento for Jonas Valanciunas. Finally, the Nuggets had their big man to back up Jokic.<\/p>\n<p>However, that deal nearly came toppling down after Valanciunas\u2019 reported interest in heading back to Europe. While the Nuggets have worked things out and are set to have Valanciunas on the roster next season, it can always be risky to rely on a player who wants to be elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where Al Horford could be a perfect fit in Denver, as suggested by <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets\/3-remaining-free-agents-the-nuggets-could-target-amid-busy-offseason\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Athlon Sports;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Athlon Sports<\/a>\u2019 Nathaniel Holloway. Horford\u2019s departure from Boston was expected with the team breaking up the 2024 championship core, but it\u2019s somewhat surprising that the former All-Star is still on the market.<\/p>\n<p>After all signs pointed to Horford joining the Golden State Warriors, talks have dragged on, potentially leaving a window of opportunity for the Nuggets. Considering Valanciunas\u2019 flaws and potential to be played off the floor in the playoffs, Horford would deliver the Nuggets a safer option to back up Jokic and some added championship experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets have had some complications solving their backup center problem, but a surefire solution could be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28878,2731,25868,28879,3134,3140,29734,31302,1260,3369,1268,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-73337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-al-horford","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-bruce-brown","11":"tag-dario-saric","12":"tag-denver-nuggets","13":"tag-golden-state-warriors","14":"tag-jonas-valanciunas","15":"tag-michael-porter-jr","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nikola-jokic","18":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114875687530831898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}