The NBA has managed to create a more exciting product off the court than on the court.

Shouldn’t that be tough to do?

After an absolute dud of a playoff season, the last four days have been more exciting than the previous two months.

This is pretty fun.

General managers are wheeling and dealing, as two major deals went down Tuesday night (D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn, Dwight Howard to Charlotte), and this is just the beginning.

Buckle in. The next 48 hours are likely going to be insane.

The Nuggets didn’t make the dance, but were very exciting to follow down the stretch. Even though they came up short, that was the most entertaining basketball we’ve seen in this town in three seasons.

But once the Nuggets were eliminated – so was the drama – locally and nationally. You better believe Nikola Jokic and the squad would have given Golden State a better series than Portland, Utah or the Kawhi-less Spurs did, but I digress.

Denver didn’t make the playoffs, but the next couple days could be critical as to why they make them next year and every subsequent year for a decade.

We know all about the core with Jokic, Jamal Murray and Gary Harris. And after that, we don’t know much at all.

Sure, there are plenty of pieces on the current roster – some may argue too many pieces – but they exist.

Whether those guys become pieces on the 2017-18 Nuggets or are used as trade chips this summer remains a monster question. One that only president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and general manager Arturas Karnisovas have the answers to. How the recently promoted duo handles this flurry of phone calls could dictate the Nuggets future for a long, long time.

You obviously have to start of the top of the food chain with Jimmy Butler and Paul George. Both are very similar – solid pieces on middle-of-the-road Eastern Conference teams – but not good enough to single-handedly carry their respective teams past LeBron James and the Cavs.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t intriguing.

The Nuggets flirted with the Pacers about George at the trade deadline, but all indications were he wasn’t interested. While he’d be a very nice addition, renting a guy for one year who doesn’t want to call Denver home doesn’t make much sense. He’s crazy, but you can’t force someone to be in a relationship they want no part of.

Late Tuesday night, Butler reportedly told Cleveland he didn’t want to go there. It’d be a dream scenario for him next season, but if King James bolts after 2018, Cleveland is going to be terrible again. Butler doesn’t want any part of that.

How would he react if the Nuggets got involved?

It’s unclear.

On one hand Denver has that intriguing young core Butler could be a key piece on for the next 6 to 8 years. On the other hand, he may want to stay in Chicago and see if he can be the guy who finally brings the franchise back to an NBA Finals.

Like George, he’d be crazy to not embrace a move to Denver, especially with his good buddy Demaryius Thomas here, but it also feels unlikely.

Still, just because George and Butler don’t get it doesn’t mean there aren’t other options for Denver to be had on the trade market. How about Kristaps Porzingis and The Joker forming one of the scariest frontcourts in the league? Patrick Beverly as a backup point guard?

I don’t hate either.

For now, it’s wait and see mode, and that (in a weird way) is pretty fun.

We’re all refreshing Twitter waiting for the next Woj bomb. It’s like when you buy a lottery ticket for a $500-million jackpot; the anticipation and hope make it all worth it.

The NBA flopped in the playoffs, yet somehow is still dominating the sports world.

Let’s hope for the Nuggets the moves off the court will continue to improve an already tantalizing core on the court.