Doncic teamed up with Jokic? The Nuggets tried to make a deal in 2018: the offer chips were exposed

On November 19, Beijing time, according to Nuggets staff member Mike Singer (former Nuggets reporter), the Nuggets tried to trade up to get Doncic in the 2018 draft to facilitate the combination of Doncic and Jokic.

In the 2018 draft, the Nuggets had the No. 14 pick in the first round (and finally selected Michael Porter Jr.), the same year the Kings selected Bagley with the No. 1 pick, and the Hawks picked Doncic with the probe pick, and then traded with the Mavericks in exchange for the No. 5 pick (Trae Young selected) and the 2019 first-round pick (which eventually became the No. 10 pick to select Reddish).

"The Nuggets knew that Divac (the Kings general manager at the time) didn't think very highly of Doncic," Singe said on the show, "and they (the Nuggets) also plan to pair Jokic with Doncic." In the 2018 draft, they tried (to trade draft picks up) and made a phone call. I was told that the plan was like this — the Nuggets tried to trade Gary Harris and two first-round picks for [the Kings'] roster pick. ”

"You can roll your eyes at the plan now, but if you look back at the time, the Kings ended up picking Bagley with the No. 1 pick," Singer said, "I'm not saying that this trade is imminent, I want to say that this trade is negotiable and considerable, because the Nuggets know that Divac doesn't have a particularly high opinion of Doncic, and they're trying to take advantage of that." The problem is, if the Nuggets were ever willing to part ways with Jamal Murray, we had an extreme assumption in the annals of NBA history, but that didn't happen. ”

"I wasn't in the room [the draft room]," Singer added, "I wasn't in management at the time, I just knew we considered, explored, evaluated." Someone anonymously said that there were 30 seconds and we (the Nuggets) thought we got Luka (Doncic), which was a big deal. ”

Nowadays, there are still many media who have imagined Doncic and Jokic joining forces, but the difficulty of achieving it today is no longer at the level of Gary Harris and the two first-rounders, Doncic and Jokic are undoubtedly not for sale of their respective teams, and if the two want to join forces, I am afraid they can only be in the All-Star Game. It is worth mentioning that the two have a very close relationship.

So far this season, Doncic has played in 13 games, averaging 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game, and Jokic has played in 10 games, averaging 29.7 points, 13.7 rebounds and 11.7 assists per game.