Whiffing on a first-round draft pick is never ideal, but it happens to just about every team at some point. Doubling down on the bad selection and compounding the pick is when things get ugly, and that’s exactly what the Nuggets have done with Zeke Nnaji.
Denver selected Nnaji with the 22nd overall pick in the 2020 draft, only to watch players such as Immanuel Quickley, Payton Pritchard, Jaden McDaniels, and Desmond Bane all get drafted within the next 10 picks. The draft is a crapshoot, especially after the lottery, so it’s hard to ding the Nuggets too badly, especially as they’ve been one of the better drafting teams in recent years.