Nuggets deal Boykins, Hodge to Bucks for Blake
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The Denver Nuggets need some breathing space from luxury-tax territory. The Milwaukee Bucks need backcourt scoring to counter their injury crisis.

That's why the teams, according to NBA front-office sources, are combining on a trade featuring Earl Boykins that will be announced later Thursday.

Now 10 games into the Allen Iverson Era, Denver has agreed to send Boykins and little-used forward Julius Hodge to the Bucks for guard Steve Blake.

The surging Boykins has scored 20 points or more in eight of his 10 games alongside Iverson, but his shots and minutes were certain to dwindle when Carmelo Anthony returns from suspension on Jan. 22. Denver couldn't resist the opportunity to trade him now given that Boykins will soon be its odd man out and more so because this move ensures that the Nuggets will not be paying luxury tax at season's end.

The Nuggets, sources say, had hoped to keep Boykins for a few more games while Anthony completes his 15-game ban. But they had to make the trade immediately because Milwaukee's $4.3 million injury exception created by Bobby Simmons' season-ending ankle and foot surgeries -- its only mechanism for taking back Boykins' contract in this exchange -- expires Friday.

Boykins' arrival will be a welcome boost to the Bucks, who have lost leading scorers Michael Redd (knee) and Mo Williams (shoulder) to injuries in the past week. Redd is expected to miss at least a month, with Williams sidelined two to three weeks. Charlie Villanueva (shoulder) is also out indefinitely and Simmons didn't play a single game this season before it was determined that he'd need two operations.

The Bucks are hoping Boykins' scoring can help keep them in the playoff hunt until Redd and Williams return. The 5-foot-5 dynamo makes $2.95 million this season and is scheduled to earn $3 million next season but has the right to opt out of his contract and become a free agent July 1.

Milwaukee, sources said, also managed to extract an estimated $700,000 from the Nuggets to pay the remainder of Hodge's $1.2 million salary.

Blake, meanwhile, will get an opportunity to win some back-up minutes in Denver's backcourt, with the Nuggets admittedly looking for pass-first facilitators who can play with Iverson, Anthony and swingman J.R. Smith.

I guess they didn't feel like they could find minutes for Boykins now? Even though he's playing extremely good basketball. What the hell are the Nuggets doing.

Posted by djsunyc:

nuggets needed a pg in the worst way. and with melo coming back, boykins is unecessary.

Is Steve Blake going to play that much of a better PG than Boykins?

If you say so DJ.

I guess you're right, I just don't see how getting Steve Blake is going to make this a better team. He's definitely a pass-first PG though.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 01-11-2007 12:53 PM]

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by nyk4ever:

If you say so DJ.

don't doubt me. 60% of the time, i'm right every time.

LOL!

this is a pure money saving maneuver... Boykins is a much better player than Blake, but the Nuggets wanted that trade exception from MIL.

I am almost positive george karl will not outlast isiah.

Posted by EnySpree:

I didn't see this thread till I tms woke me up.

Too lazy to cut and paste but this to me is just stupid ass trade. If isiah did a rade like this the basketsll community would rip him a new one.

hey, isiah does not do a trade like this and the community rips him a new one.
But I'm getting used to this us against the world mentality.
Now I know why detroit was so supportive of rodman, lambier and that motley crue.

I agree with DJ overall on this one. I would like to see the Nugz at least consume some kind of pick out of the deal even if it is just a second rounder. Heck Denver will still pay a great portion of Hodges salary in this trade.



[Edited by - TrueBlue on 01-11-2007 3:19 PM]

I picked up Blake yesterday in the enyspree classic. Let's go Blake!

oohah

The first sentence in that article had a lot to do with it. They cut a lot of salary.