The Denver Nuggets have made plenty of shrewd moves over the past few seasons, highlighting their front offices scouting ability along the way.

Their magnum opus was their ability to find a diamond in the rough in two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, the 41st overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

However, they also drafted Michael Porter Jr. with the 14th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft despite myriad franchises being scared off by his medical records. Christian Braun, who played an important role for the Nuggets while making their rotation as a rookie, was drafted with the 21st overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

There have been misses though, and ESPN insider Zach Lowe singled out one particular mistake by the Nuggets:

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“In one of the few mistakes they made, the Nuggets traded down from No. 13 to No. 24 in the 2017 draft — the 13th pick turned out to be Donovan Mitchell. Denver had considered taking OG Anunoby at that spot but felt he was a reach at that point in the draft. Anunoby came off the board at No. 23 and the Nuggets wound up with long-forgotten Tyler Lydon with the next pick.”

The Nuggets trading down from No. 13 and missing out on Donovan Mitchell has both been acknowledged and discussed. Clearly Denver made the wrong decision, no matter how much buzz forward Trey Lyles had after being drafted 12th overall in 2015. However, it's interesting to know that the Nuggets considered drafting OG Anunoby at No. 13 overall and skipped over the lockdown defender as well.

For comparison, Tyler Lydon — who they drafted instead — has been out of the NBA since 2019 after playing just 25 games with the Nuggets.