26-year old small forward Carmelo Anthony is getting red hot once again. He dropped 50 points on the Rockets last night! In his last five games, Anthony is averaging 38.2 minutes, 32.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game on 53.7% shooting from the floor. Anthony has now played in 45 games (all starts) for the Nuggets so far this year and he is averaging 35.3 minutes, 24.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. The Nuggets better make damn sure that they get a nice haul for Anthony if they do indeed deal him.

25-year old shooting guard Arron Afflalo has taken his game to a new level this season. He has played in 45 games (all starts) for the Nuggets so far this year and he is averaging 35.3 minutes, 13.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Afflalo is also shooting the lights out so far this year as he is making 51.5% of his shots from the floor, 43.7% of his shots from three point range and 85.8% from the free throw line. If the Nuggets wind up trading Carmelo Anthony in the coming weeks, Afflalo could become a bigger part of the offense and I can see him easily scoring around 20 points per game with more shots.

With Chauncey Billups’ name being bandied about in trade rumors you have to think that 23-year old point guard Ty Lawson might start getting more P.T. Lawson has played in 37 games (5 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 24.6 minutes, 11.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. He has now played in 102 games (13 starts) in his first two years with the Nuggets and he is averaging 21.8 minutes, 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Lawson has hit a amazing 50.6% of his shots from the floor in his first two years in the NBA as he is a very unselfish player with the basketball. If the Nuggets deal Chauncey Billups over the next few weeks, they will still be in good hands at the point with Ty Lawson.

30-year old SF/PF Al Harrington has really helped out offensively off the bench for the Nuggets so far this year. Harrington has played in 30 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets this year and he is averaging 26.2 minutes, 11.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. The Nuggets want to attach Harrington to any deal involving Carmelo Anthony and I don’t see that being a dealbreaker.

The Denver Nuggets are likely getting closer to dealing 26-year old small forward Carmelo Anthony. Dealing Anthony comes with a lot of risk as the Nuggets are 20-14 on the year which has them 3 games behind the Utah Jazz in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. They are currently the #6 seed in the Western Conference if the playoff started today. Trading Anthony now likely means the Nuggets will miss the playoffs this year. Anthony has played in 27 games (all starts) for the Nuggets so far this year and he is averaging 35.4 minutes, 24.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He has now played in 541 games (all starts) in his 8 years with the Nuggets and he is averaging 36.4 minutes, 24.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The smart thing for the Nuggets to do is to deal Anthony as long as they can also get rid of some other highly paid players, because they aren’t making the playoffs without Carmelo.