The Denver Nuggets lost Thursday night’s matchup with the Orlando Magic 115-104 immediately after the 2023 NBA trade deadline.

The Nuggets made multiple trades on Thursday, acquiring Thomas Bryant from the Los Angeles Lakers and sending Bones Hyland to the Los Angeles Clippers. Perhaps the trade deadline affected Denver’s mentality in tonight’s game, because the Nuggets clearly weren’t as motivated to go for a big win tonight as they had been at home.

Aaron Gordon produced in a major way, scoring 37 points and adding 14 rebounds. His aggressiveness and attention to detail were at a high level, and that was certainly appreciated. Nikola Jokić started the game poorly but found his way to 29 points 11 rebounds, and 6 assists to go with 7 turnovers. It wasn’t his best performance of the year by a long shot.

Here are my takeaways from the Nuggets post trade deadline matchup with the Orlando Magic on Thursday night:

Nuggets struggle through malaise and focus issues

Given the trade deadline and how well the Nuggets have played so far this season, it’s understandable that the effort wasn’t great in a road game against the Orlando Magic. With Jamal Murray out, it’s unsurprising that the level of focus and attention to detail was a bit out of whack.

And yet, both malaise and focus seemed to be at issue for the Nuggets in Orlando. 16 turnovers for 22 Magic points was a big deal in the first half. The Nuggets never developed a rhythm as a team and were frustrated by Orlando’s length and athleticism all evening.

Michael Porter Jr. in particular took a step back on both ends of the floor tonight, shooting 3-of-16 from the field, grabbing just three rebounds, and had some bad defensive possessions. He made some fluky bad plays in the first quarter but ended up spiraling for the rest of the game, unable to get a shot to go down in the second half despite numerous open looks.

Aaron Gordon was absolutely dominant by comparison

Though the Nuggets as a whole looked unfocused, Aaron Gordon brought the energy and passion against his former team. His focus on offense was to clean up around the rim in the first quarter, and he got plenty of easy shot opportunities to get himself going. He then expanded his game to more complex shots and they all went for him too. It was an awesome display of shooting from a player usually more focused on doing everything else.

Gordon finished with 35 points through three quarters and 37 in the game. He shot 15-of-21 from the field and 3-of-6 from three while grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing three assists. He added a steal and two blocks, making several defensive plays on the evening. His productivity going up against rookie of the year favorite Paolo Banchero was very impressive. It’s unfortunate (and undeserved) that it came in a losing effort.

The bench needs a center so badly

On the night, the Nuggets bench scored 10 points. Jeff Green had seven of those on six shots, but some of them were the product of transition scoring rather than anything the Nuggets did in the halfcourt. Vlatko Čančar had the other three points on a first half three-pointer. That was it. Those were the 10 points.

The Nuggets were outscored 56-10 in the bench points category, an issue that will continue to plague the Nuggets after the Bones Hyland trade. Though Bones’ defensive issues and overall fit were reasons to move him, the Nuggets not getting anybody back at this stage is going to be an issue without Jamal Murray. Porter’s staggers with the bench have been bad, and they remained bad tonight.

In the short term, the only thing that may save Denver’s bench scoring is Thomas Bryant. The Nuggets struggled to run basic sets on both ends in the first half without a big roll man in the middle of the floor. Bryant will help them when he arrives as an efficient, effective scorer in the paint.

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