Which means the players who faced the Denver Nuggets Thursday night essentially will be the same group trying to rescue the regular season. They'll hope the 112-90 blowout loss isn't a precursor of things to come in the season's final third.

As the Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. is well aware, the trade deadline is part of the business in the NBA. “As long as I’m here, I’m going to be here and I’m going to be happy, and I’m going to play hard and try to be available and try to help win games,