DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets selected Frenchman Rudy Gobert with the 27th pick of the NBA draft on Thursday night but were planning to trade the 7-foot-2 power forward.
The Nuggets don’t want to pay nearly $3 million in guaranteed money over three years to a player who won’t log many minutes this season on a deep team that new general manager Tim Connelly inherited when he took over for Masai Ujiri.
Connelly wasn’t in the market for another young prospect in this draft, not with a young roster that already features 20-year-olds Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller, 22-year-old Jordan Hamilton and 23-year-olds Kenneth Faried and Anthony Randolph.
