Denver Nuggets trade rumors: Nuggets letting go of big star

Kenneth Faried representing the United States in 2014. | Wikimedia Commons / TonyTheTiger

The Denver Nuggets have performed as expected this season, but it seems that the team may make some moves in order to improve the squad.

At the moment, the Nuggets are fourth in the Northwest Division with a 6-8 record.

They are barely behind the top team in the division, only 1.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the Nuggets still need to improve in some aspects of their game.

It appears that rumors are linking the team to offload a big star from their squad in order to make room for some players to help them in the offensive and defensive end.

The Nuggets have a lot of big men in the line-up with Jusuf Nurkic, Nikola Jokic and Kenneth Faried sharing most of the minutes.

Darrell Arthur is still relatively recovering from his injury so his numbers will definitely be limited. But when he is at 100 percent, he will likely eat up more minutes from the other three big men.

In the rumor mill, it appears that the Nuggets may be ready to move on from their relationship with Faried.

One of the most experienced among the group, Faried was drafted by the Nuggets back in 2011. Picked 22nd overall, he has actually done well for himself and is known as a scrappy player on both ends of the floor.

Nicknamed "Manimal," Faried averages 12.2 points and 8.7 rebounds in his career. However, he has slowed down a bit this year and only averages 9.0 points and 9.7 rebounds. This is due to the limited minutes he is playing after the emergence of other big players in the team.

With many believing that Nukic and Jokic can form a formidable duo up front, it makes Faried expendable, given that he has an expensive big contract as well. This year, Faried is set to earn $12 million. It will continue to rise until the 2018-19 season.

It remains to be seen if he will finish the season with the Nuggets.