Report: Denver Nuggets have Chris Boucher on their radar
There’s a good chance the last member from the 2019 championship roster will be on another team by the trade deadline. A few teams have shown interest in 8-year veteran Chris Boucher but the Denver Nuggets are making the most noise. According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Nuggets are interested in what the 32-year-old brings to the table. Begley noted that Boucher “certainly has fans” within their organization.
He’s currently averaging 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds while shooting nearly 48 percent from the field and a decimal shy of 34 percent from beyond the arc in 17.4 minutes. Due to his offensive spacing, he could play the four and five while bringing effective rim protection. His best career year was 2020-2021 where he averaged 13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and almost 2 blocks per game. Backed by efficient shooting splits of 51.4 percent from the field and 38.3 from distance. Those years are likely behind him as Father Time is undefeated, but he still provides two very valuable aspects in today’s NBA: triples and blocks.
On Jan. 9 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the big man tallied 23 points, 12 rebounds, one steal, one block and cashed out five threes all within 27 minutes. In doing so he placed 13th in double-doubles in Toronto Raptors history passing Vince Carter with a total of 39. A squad like Denver that’s two years off a championship is still in win-now mode and could use that secondary big-man presence off the bench. He could potentially complement their superstar Nikola Jokic if they need Boucher’s ability down the stretch.
The Nuggets’ backup center is currently DeAndre Jordan, so trading for Boucher to fill that spot would benefit them and potentially lessen Jokic’s usage. Denver is currently 21-15 placing them second in their division behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. But they are fourth in the Western Conference just two games back of the Memphis Grizzlies. In a highly competitive West a veteran like Boucher who knows what it takes to win, could likely keep them a top-four team and fill that hole for them.
The return for Boucher won’t be anything shiny; however; they could get second-round pick compensation and salary filler. The Raptors are currently trying to figure out the direction of where the team should head so any trade would likely be better than letting him walk as a free agent this off-season.
The Raptors’ next matchup is against the Detroit Pistons in Little Caesar’s Arena.
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