Jusuf Nurkic Traded to Trail Blazers for Mason Plumlee: Latest Details, Reaction

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

The NBA trade winds picked up Sunday, as the Portland Trail Blazers sent center Mason Plumlee and a 2018 second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for a 2017 first-round pick and center Jusuf Nurkic.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical and Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post reported the news. The 2017 pick goes to Portland via the Memphis Grizzlies and is top-five protected, per RealGM.

Plumlee, 26, averaged 11.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks through Portland’s first 54 games. He and C.J. McCollum were the only Blazers starters who played in every game this season. The former first-round pick is slated to be a restricted free agent this summer.

Nurkic, 22, averaged 8.0 points and 5.8 rebounds in 45 games for Denver. He began the season as the team’s starting center but was unseated by the rising Nikola Jokic. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported the Nuggets started shopping Nurkic around the league in January.

So while it’s unsurprising the Nuggets moved Nurkic, their haul in this case is a little curious. Plumlee is a rim-runner who…