Jusuf Nurkic's time in Denver came to a rather unceremonious end in February when the Nuggets sent the big man and a first-round pick to the Trail Blazers in exchange for Mason Plumlee, a second-rounder and cash. Nurkic became expendable when Nikola Jokic emerged as the starting center and a potential franchise-changing talent. The demotion to the bench didn't sit well with Nurkic, and he wasn't afraid to voice his displeasure with the situation.
"The Bosnian Beast" revealed to Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver he twice made trade requests to Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly (who has since been promoted to president of basketball operations), once in April 2016 and then again in December with his agent, Aylton Tesch. Nurkic expressed frustration once it was clear he didn't have a major role on the team. There simply wasn't enough room for Nurkic and Jokic to both flourish.
"I believe you can develop guards together. But two centers? No way," Nurkic said. "I don’t want to make this a big drama like [Kevin Durant]. I was never on the same page with the coach and the front office. It just came to the point where I needed to go. My career was on the line.”
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The end of the relationship between the Nuggets and Nurkic was a matter of when, not if. Nurkic took on criticism for his body language and demeanor as head coach Mike Malone left him on the bench, sometimes for full games. Nurkic admits he was upset but maintains he came to work every day as the team looked for a landing spot.
"People assume I had an attitude problem and people like to make up stories that paint me as a bad guy," he explained. "Once I asked for a trade, there were even more rumors that I wasn’t happy. But I shouldn’t be happy. No one in that situation should be happy. I put in the hard work to play and someone was holding me down."
Following the trade, Nurkic thrived in Portland next to Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, averaging 15.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals in 20 games to finish the 2016-17 regular season. He's not quite on the same level through 16 games this season (14.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 blocks, 0.9 steals), but Nurkic sees a future with the Trail Blazers. The team will have to make a decision on him in 2018 when he becomes a restricted free agent.
"Portland gave me the situation I always wanted: the fans, the city, the teammates and two guards who can really hoop," Nurkic said. "It sounds perfect to me. I don’t want this to end. I want to be here."
Nurkic is happy with his new home, and the Nuggets made the right choice in throwing Jokic into the starting lineup and unleashing his talent on the league. Both Nurkic and the Nuggets have their versions of how it all went down, but the trade appears to have worked out for both sides.
(You can read Golliver's full feature on Nurkic here.)
