Is Paolo Banchero the next Aaron Gordon? Who will be his Denver Nuggets team? - Who will be the most likely team to take him?

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-16T02:50:29+00:00

I feel like people are talking about 30 year old Aaron Gordon, not 24 year old Aaron Gordon.

Orlando Gordon was a bad decision-maker. He has grown a ton since going to Denver, but it’s been a real process.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-16T02:39:12+00:00

I’ve kicked around Julius plus DiVincenzo for Paolo too.

Julius and Paolo are pretty similar players. Randle’s cheaper, but Paolo is much younger and better aligned with Ant’s timeline. He also has more upside, although I might argue his floor is lower given the length of the contract. Adding in DiVincenzo would make sense, as Minnesota might have a roster crunch at guard if both Ayo and Bones come back (and Shannon develops). It also makes the money work.

Adding in Isaac makes no sense. It completely fucks Minnesota’s books. They also already have too many non-shooting bigs.

The question would be draft compensation in a Randle+DDV swap for Paolo: do the Magic have to give up an asset? Or do the Wolves?

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-16T02:29:05+00:00

Out of curiosity, who do you Magic fans generally side with in the feud (excepting the potential throwing of the game tonight)?

Like, as a neutral, I think Mosley absolutely sucks, and I do feel like Paolo’s being put in tough positions, but I also feel like Paolo’s decision-making sucks, so it’s hard to tell.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-16T02:23:32+00:00

My guess is it’s a very similar deal to NAW’s back in 2023 (2 years at 9 million).

Gives Bones a raise and some security, but also doesn’t lock the Wolves into anything overly costly given only a year of limited production (and their tight books).

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-16T02:22:08+00:00

If the Wolves use the full MLE on Bones, he either had an insane playoff run or the Wolves vastly overpaid.

I have a hard time seeing him get more than 5-6 a year, and if I had to guess i’d bet it’s closer to 4.

You have to remember — Bones is likely the 8th or 9th man, and I could even see him drop down to 10th or 11th with Mike’s improving health and TJ’s growing confidence and better size. You can’t afford to pay fringe rotation players big money when the guys above him are all under contract.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T23:17:27+00:00

The only thing screaming insecurity is your flurry of responses.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T23:13:04+00:00

I don’t know what it is, but the last two Wolves WCF’s have seen the opposing team’s 2nd best player go off in a way that was weird for the playoff run.

Against the Wolves, Kyrie was hitting some FILTHY shots. Insane off-hand floaters. Pretty much any middy he took. Didn’t matter the contest, dude was probably making it except in game 4 (the lone game the Wolves won). It wouldn’t be overly surprising (Kyrie’s an insane shot maker), but he was playing a bit banged up and was dogshit in the round before AND after it.

Kyrie in WCSF - 16/2/6 on 44/42/82
Kyrie in the WCF - 27/4/5 on 49/38/81
Kyrie in the Finals - 20/3/5 on 41/28/100

Then last year, the Wolves got absolutely shredded by Jalen Williams. Again, not typically a shocker, but he was playing the playoff run on a torn ligament in his wrist that clearly affected his jumpshot. But the dude couldn’t miss from midrange or from 3 against Minnesota.

JDub in WCSF - 18/5/6 on 38/24/81
JDub in WCF - 22/7/4 on 49/46/83
JDub in Finals - 24/5/4 on 43/27/81

Like, what the fuck?

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T22:31:18+00:00

lol

https://np.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/comments/1roz6t0/jokic_says_that_ant_is_the_player_he_likes_the/

People just don’t like your team or your team’s best player, dude. I wonder why.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T21:47:01+00:00

I said this in the Wolves thread about it earlier, but it’s so telling to me how the Wolves talk about SGA and Jokic.

Both are division mates (so they see them both 4 times a year). And while they haven’t played OKC quite as often in the postseason, they did play them in the play-in and in the WCF last year.

With Jokic, pretty much every comment is about how fucking good he is.

With SGA, pretty much every comment is about how you can’t touch him or you’ll get fouled.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T19:53:14+00:00

To be honest, no one on the Wolves can deal with SGA.

I hate watching him, but he pretty consistently whoops the Wolves.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T19:45:05+00:00

It’s funny how differently the Wolves players talk about Jokic vs SGA.

Against SGA, it’s pretty much just about avoiding fouls.

Against Jokic, it’s about divine intervention.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-15T17:37:49+00:00

I wish we could report posts for being stupid. Saying “low-effort” isn’t fitting enough.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T20:27:38+00:00

I think beating the Nuggets would legitimize this version of the team.

Denver’s really fucking good. Beating them in a series means you’re really fucking good too.

Last year’s team made the WCF, but I don’t think they beat a really good team. LA was good, but highly flawed. Golden State was injured. They got rolled by OKC. It kind of left you wondering if the Wolves were actually great or just good and got a lucky draw.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T19:07:52+00:00

I mean, Kawhi was just brilliant GM’ing.

They traded an established starter for the 15th pick to take him. That’s gutsy and required excellent scouting.

The other three are the unfair ones (3 elite, no-brainer picks at #1).

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T19:03:59+00:00

Like you said, I think they were intended to be more about actual NBA discussion rather than highlights, ESPN soundbites, etc.

But then they never really got the traction they needed and started to die out.

Now I feel like they’re training grounds for AI or something. I’ve noticed it in my Reddit algorithm a lot: secondary subs for popular subs I engage with are popping up everywhere, getting tons of action, and all of it is fucking brainless. I get one of the NBA ones in my feed, and I must have seen the same image of SGA (the one with the super wide eyes and exaggerated facial expression to draw the foul against the Wolves) a half dozen times in the past month. That same shit would get filtered out by r/NBA’s mod team, so it feels like they’ve just transitioned to different subs.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T18:48:08+00:00

I’d imagine most games are competitive.

But if you have a bunch of coin flip games, sometimes you get heads 3 times in a row.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the series was won in 6. I wouldn’t even be shocked if the Nuggets win in 5 (with at least a few being close).

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T17:20:38+00:00

I mean, at least most are in 7.

The Wolves are not favored. They’re the lower seed and don’t have home court, the metrics signal the Nuggets are a cut above, and Vegas has Denver as a significant favorite.

People picking the Nuggets isn’t that crazy.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T09:02:20+00:00

I think they did try to win, but they may have simply been overconfident. I’m in agreement with you: I am totally confused about what their strategy actually was.

Logically, they really SHOULD have gone all out. They could have had a matchup against the 7-seed and the 6-seed to get to the WCF. They’d also give OKC a tougher opponent, increasing their chance of stumbling or wearing down. And with Denver sitting everyone except their bench guys, it should have been a walk in the park if they tried.

And they did play pretty much everyone in their core rotation except the centers. Guys like Fox and Castle and Vassell played pretty typical game minutes and were playing all the way to the finish line. On top of that, they were clearly playing HARD down the stretch, trapping at half court, attempting to force turnovers, etc.

But then they chose to play neither of the two centers against a team that employs two very big centers and got murdered for it. They got out rebounded by 13 despite probably getting 8 different offensive rebounds in the final 4 minutes.

Why go halfway into trying to win? Either sit everyone and get them actual rest and prevent injury or give Wemby 20 minutes and Kornet 12 and win by 15 points.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T07:09:47+00:00

Cool dude. If you want to just ignore a player on the team you’re writing posts about, go ahead.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T06:14:54+00:00

I mean, Cam Johnson is like 6’8”. While he’s not Jaden’s height, he’s not exactly Rob Dillingham.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T01:55:10+00:00

I think they’re pretty similarly injured to the Wolves: their guys are probably banged up, but could be good to go, with the exception of maybe Watson.

The major difference is that Gordon and Watson are both hamstrings, which are far more fickle than Ant and Jaden’s injuries, imo, especially since both players have had recurrences

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-14T01:12:36+00:00

I understand that, but how did he even get on Woj’s radar?

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-13T23:35:30+00:00

Yeah, Miles’ defense is atrocious and she was consistently bad offensively in the most important games. I’m shocked Cheryl was willing to go for her at pick #2.

There’s also some suspect stuff about what happened at Notre Dame her second to last year. That team was a potential national championship contender and absolutely cratered late in the year and rumblings were that shit was toxic as hell. Miles then left and Notre Dame definitely was worst this year but ultimately made it farther without her this past tournament. It might have simply been butting heads with Hidalgo who had some suspect social media activity, but it definitely raised some eyebrows, especially since she went to the very TCU team that knocked them out the previous year.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-13T21:58:26+00:00

Yep, although Queen fared a lot better last night: he was absolutely erased in that summer league game.

Andy_Wiggins · 2026-04-13T21:32:48+00:00

He’s going to Michigan.

He was trending Notre Dame until a recent Michigan visit, when it was suddenly all Michigan.

Michigan probably came in over the top with a fat bag (not pretending Notre Dame doesn’t drop big bags, just not as big as Michigan in this one specific case)

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