Nuggets GM Connelly: Nurkic trade more about acquiring Plumlee

For the Denver Nuggets, it’s seemingly “all-in” on big man Nikola Jokic. And probably for good reason.

The second-year NBA center, who’s recent play has heads turning, put up his second career triple-double Monday night in the Nuggets’ shocking win over the Golden State Warriors, 132-110.

Jokic finished with 17 points, 12 assists, and 21 rebounds.

And on Friday, he put up a career-high 40 points in a road win over the New York Knicks.

So given Jokic’s recent play, it’s “fair” to assume Denver’s recent trade with Portland, which shipped fellow big man Jusuf Nurkic to the Trail Blazers for a more complimentary player in Mason Plumlee, has more to do with finding the right pieces to build around the Nuggets’ budding young star.

“He’s a unique player. I think it would be less than intelligent for us not to see what he’s done recently and start to make some decisions on the whole, what he can and cannot do and how we compliment it,” Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly told “The Drive” on Monday, ahead of the team’s game with the Warriors.

Connelly said the switch to featuring Jokic more as a “playmaking 5” has given Denver more success offensively but left holes in the front court in terms of size behind the center.

“You couple that with Plumlee’s playmaking, and he’s kind of seamless fit as both a compliment to our offensive front court,” Connelly said, “and when Nikola’s out of the game we can play a similar brand of basketball with passing centers.”

Despite falling out of the rotation as of late, Connelly complimented Nurkic’s game, saying he’s “a very talented guy” who could probably benefit from a fresh start in Portland.

“Sports is circumstances more than anything. You need the opportunity. And Nurkic is a very good player. He’s shown that,” Connelly said. “But when we’re looking how Nikola plays and how our whole team has been playing right now — our offense has been really humming — certainly, athleticism is not one of his strong points.

“Plumlee is one of the elite athletes in the front court position.”

Connelly also said Denver hoped to avoid “cannibalizing” it’s younger players and trading away a first-round draft pick makes sense with the team not only running out of roster spots but opportunities to give young players minutes.

“I don’t know if we can get much younger. It’d be hard on coach (Michael) Malone,” Connelly said. “And we identified a guy like Plumlee, who checks so many boxes, not just on the court but in the locker room as well. I think you’ve got to be aggressive to get those guys in your program and keep them here a long time.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.