Okay, so this is the first of hopefully a few trade ideas I am going to come up with that actually make sense for both teams and contractually work out under league rules. Posting trade ideas is by far the hottest topic of the fanposts but they are often trades that are either A. against league rules or B. are heavily one sided, usually in the nuggets favor. I am guilty of both of these flaws but from here on out I will do my best to try to post only plausible and sensible trades.

The topic of trading J.R. Smith has come up, and I for one am not completely opposed to dealing him, but only if it were for the right trade. As we all know, Marc Gasol is probably the most coveted of all big men by us here at Denver Stiffs, but as I have long said it has been quite hopeless that we could find a way to get him. However, now I think we have an option if we deal JR

Denver sends: JR Smith, Johan Petro and a future second rounder to Memphis

Memphis sends: Marc Gasol, Sam Young and Marko Jaric to Denver

How it works: Essentially two trades happen. The first would be Smith, Petro and the draft pick in exchange for Jaric and Young. While this leaves the Nuggets taking on around an additional 1 million it works because the the incoming salaries are still within 125% of the out going. The second trade involves sending the Chucky Atkins exception to Memphis in exchange for Marc Gasol

Why Denver does it: Gasol gives the Nuggets the legitimate center they desperately need while at the same time they get a young scoring option in Sam Young to help ease the pain of losing Smith. Young started in place of Rudy Gay recently and put up 17 pts against Utah and followed that with a 12 pt outing. Even the Jaric contract has light at the end of the tunnel, his contract will come off the books the same year as Kenyons, leaving the Nuggets with about 23 million in cap room in two summers time

Why Memphis does it: First and foremost they get the horrendous contract that is Marko Jaric off the books, but secondly they get JR which gives them a legitimate 6th man threat whether it be JR or OJ Mayo. Also having JR will help fill the scoring void that will be left when the all but confirmed departure of Rudy Gay happens at the end of the season

Why Denver doesn't do it: This trade in the end leaves the Nuggets with around an extra 4 million of salary, which means Kroenke will have to dish out 8 million extra because of the luxury tax. It also burdens the Nuggets with the contract of Jaric. Also taking on Gasol and Jaric will further complicate the Nuggets salary issues

Why Memphis doesn't do it: The trade leaves Memphis thin on the front line. Basically they would have no Center with any real experience. Plus it will be tough to find enough playing time for both JR Smith and OJ Mayo