On February 13, 2017 the Portland Trail Blazers traded Mason Plumlee to the Denver Nuggets for Jusuf Nurkic. There were other components to this deal, but the gist of it was, Neil Olshey got a franchise center and a first round pick for someone in Plumlee, who was only going to be a backup in the future. This trade was a masterstroke.
At the time of the trade, Plumlee was a good starting center for the Blazers. He had averaged 11 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the 54 games he started that season.