With less than 24 hours remaining until the NBA trade deadline, which is set for Thursday, February 8 at 3 p.m. EST, anticipation and excitement is growing as usual, with the tension building as fans look forward to the inevitable flurry of last-minute deals, some of which could potentially change the league’s competitive landscape and sway teams’ fates.

But if it’s flashy, star-studded trade action you’re looking for, it’s probably best to not get your hopes up that the Denver Nuggets will make any deadline waves – at least not big ones.

For a variety of reasons, it appears unlikely that Denver will make anything but very marginal moves around the outer edges of their rotation in waning hours leading up to the trade deadline.

Championship Starting Five

First and most important among the reasons for this, Denver’s starting five is already not only fully, completely formed, but is a proven championship lineup led by the NBA’s best player in two-time MVP and Finals MVP Nikola Jokic. And presuming head coach Michael Malone again emulates his rotational patterns from last year’s playoffs – a safe assumption given the winning results – it should be expected that as before he’ll keep them limited to just eight or even seven players in his postseason rotations, tightened up from the nine or 10 he often puts on the court during the regular season.