- Close
ESPN Insider- Joined ESPN as a college basketball Insider in June 2013
- Previously wrote for CBSSports.com and FOXSports.com
- Close
ESPN Staff Writer- Covers NBA and Warriors for ESPN.com
- Covered Cavaliers and NBA for Cleveland Plain Dealer from 2014-2016
- Covered Trail Blazers for Comcast SportsNet NW from 2011-2014
- Fresno State University graduate
The Denver Nuggets held separate discussions leading up to Thursday night's NBA draft about deals to acquire Chicago Bulls forward Jimmy Butler or Phoenix Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe, sources told ESPN.
The deal with the Bulls would include draft picks and multiple young players but not Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, a source said.
In the trade with the Suns, the Nuggets would send point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and the No. 13 overall pick to Phoenix in return for Bledsoe, league sources said. Sources described the dialogue for those negotiations as "fluid."
Denver has for some time been seeking an upgrade at point guard.
Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit, sources say, have all reached out to Phoenix in an attempt to gauge the price tag for Bledsoe, 27, who posted career highs of 21 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds last season. Mudiay, 21, is coming off a season having averaged 11.9 points, 3.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds.
Should Phoenix move Bledsoe, it is anticipated that the Suns would take point guard De'Aaron Fox out of Kentucky with the No. 4 pick.