Portland acquires Nurkić in a trade

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
On February 12, 2017 at 1:50 pm EST

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired center Jusuf Nurkić and a first-round draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft in a trade with the Denver Nuggets. Mason Plumlee and a second-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft goes to the Mile High City.

The 7-foot center was in his third-season with the Nuggets. He is averaging 8.0 points per game in 45 contests. He is also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.8 blocks.

Mason Plumlee dribbling the ball (Getty Images)

The 22-year-old will now back-up Ed Davis. Festus Ezeli – who signed with the team in the off-season after the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant – is out indefinitely due to a knee injury.

The 26-year-old Plumlee will now be on his third team. He was averaging 11.1 points per game in 54 contests. He is also averaging 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.2 blocks.

He began his career with the Brooklyn Nets, where he played two seasons. Then was traded to the Trail Blazers in the summer of 2015.

His brother Miles was also recently traded, as he went from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Charlotte Hornets. In exchange for Plumlee, the Bucks received Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes.

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DeRozen has 30 in the Raptors win over the Nuggets

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Denver Nuggets, 113-111, on Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

The Raptors out scored the Nuggets 11-9 in the extra session. The Nuggets missed a late half-court shot to end the game.

DeMar DeRozen had a game-high 30-points. He’s the first player since Michael Jordan in 1986-87, according to ESPN Stats & Info, to have 10 30-point games in their team’s first 12 games.

DeMar DeRozen (Getty Images)

Kyle Lowry added 18 points, while Jonas Valančiūnas had 15 and DeMarre Carroll added 11. Pascal Siakam had eight.

The Raptors were eight-of-23 from beyond the arc. Terrence Ross went four of five, while Carroll also made a three-pointer.

Toronto had 31 bench points, including 16 by Ross.

Emmanuel Mudiay had 25 points, while Danilo Gallinari has 21 and Jusuf Nurkić had 14. Kenneth Faired added seven and Jameer Nelson had five.

The Nuggets were four-of-25 from three-point range. Wilson Chandler had three, while Nelson added the other.

Chandler led the bench group with 25 of their 39 points.

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Bulls, Nuggets, Magic, 76ers pull off the first two trades in the NBA Draft

By Anthony Caruso III
Posted: June 25th, 2014 at 9:12 pm EST

There has been two trades at the 2014 NBA Draft so far.

Doug McDermott was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 11th overall pick. A short time later, he was moved to the Chicago Bulls for the 16th and 19th picks.

2014 NBA Draft

Reece Davis, who is a part of the ESPN crew working the NBA draft, said McDermott wanted to play for the Bulls all along.

The complete McDermott deal has Anthony Randolph also going to Chicago for Jusuf Nurkic (16th overall pick) and Gary Harris (19th overall pick) and a 2015 second round pick.

Randolph has bounced around on his career. He began his career with the Golden State Warriors, before moving on to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010-11 and also made a stop with the New York Knicks that season.

He rejoined the Wolves for the 2011-12 season, before spending the past two years with the Nuggets.

He has averaged 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.7assists, and 0.9 blocks in 252 career games since the 2008-09 season. He has made 42 starts in his career.

With the 10th overall pick, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Elfrid Payton, while the Orlando Magic drafted Dario Saric with the 12th overall pick.

Besides Sarc, the 76ers also acquire a 2015 second round draft pick and a 2017 first-round draft pick. The first round draft pick was originally the 76ers, before it was dealt to the Magic in the Dwight Howard blockbuster deal from two years ago.

These two players were then swapped for each other. Payton, who rose up the draft board, will be the replacement for point guard Jameer Nelson.

On June 23rd, Saric signed a three-year contract with Anadolu Efes, a Turkish powerhouse. This past season, he played with Cibona Zagreb, where he averaged 19.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.

This contract is two years with a player option for the third year. It also prohibits him from playing in the NBA for at least two years.

The 76ers did not have a single foreign player play for them during the 2013-14 season.