Will the Nuggets be active on NBA Draft night?

DENVER (KDVR) — Wednesday night marks the beginning of the 2025 NBA Draft. Fans wait eagerly to see if their team selects the player that alters their franchise, while front offices work behind the scenes to make sure that player is selected, or look to make franchise-altering trades.

One fan base that might not even turn the television on Wednesday night is the Denver Nuggets supporters.

The disinterest doesn't stem from contempt towards the team, but rather the fact that the team might look exactly the same as it already does before the draft even starts.

The Nuggets have, perhaps rightfully so, gone all in on their current roster after winning the franchise's first-ever championship in 2023. However, they haven't kept one eye towards the future, and because of it, have the second-worst draft arsenal in the NBA, according to ESPN.

This is usually typical for contenders, but how then can the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs this year, before going on to win the championship, have the best draft pick selection for the near future in the same survey?

How can the Nuggets catch up to the Thunder, the shared conference heavyweight, who were the second-youngest team to win an NBA championship, and look to be building a dynasty off the back of their pantheon of draft picks in the next couple of years?

The fact that the Thunder is the team that owns most of the Nuggets' first-round picks until 2030 is prosaic.

What will the Nuggets do during the 2025 NBA Draft?

This draft class has two players that many view as franchise-altering talent: Cooper Flagg, the forward from Duke University, and Dylan Harper, a guard from Rutgers University. Outside of the top two picks, nothing becomes so surefire, and teams will really have to do their homework to find the best fit for them.

The Nuggets have proven that they can develop a No. 41 pick into one of the best players of all time, but that is probably the greatest outlier in NBA history.

With zero picks in the draft, the Nuggets will more than likely remain quiet on draft night.

Another reason the Nuggets will be quiet Wednesday night is the Stepien Rule, which dictates that teams cannot trade first-round picks in consecutive seasons.

The Nuggets have traded their first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029, meaning that they cannot trade first-round picks from 2026, 2028 and 2030. The team can technically shop its 2031 pick, but that seems a little far out for consideration.

Nuggets fans won't be able to hope that the team finds the next Nikola Jokic late in the second round again, as the team also traded its second-round picks in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031.

If things remain the same, it will be the first time the Nuggets haven't drafted a player since 2010.

The front office could attempt to trade current players, but the high salaries might make that difficult.

Although the Nuggets' owner floated the idea of a Jokic trade scenario, the sun would freeze over before that happens this year. Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun seem like non-tradables and Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are on massive contracts that would be hard to offload, even if the Nuggets were trying to.

While it is unlikely the Nuggets are active on draft night, never say never. The unconventional two-general-manager structure that the Nuggets recently deployed will be actively listening behind the scenes, but it would have to take an extremely sweet deal for the Nuggets to move.