Still, for all his immaturity, Westbrook has been a net-positive for the Nuggets, who managed to survive a seven-game slugfest against the Clippers, and are trailing, 3-2, in their Western Conference semifinal series against Westbrook's original team, the Thunder.

Aaron Gordon might be the gold standard of the "struggling leading man to role player" transformation right now. After never finding his place in Orlando, he has become Mr. Nugget in Denver by giving up the on-ball portion of his offensive game,

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pushed the the Thunder past Denver in a 112-105 win for a 3-2 series lead with clutch finish in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.

However, the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves laid a weird blueprint last season. The Spurs traded their eighth pick to the Wolves for two picks in the very distant future. For a young team already boasting plenty of depth, the trade makes sense.

The Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3-2 series lead over the Denver Nuggets with a thrilling 112-105 win in Game 5 of their second-round NBA playoff series on Tuesday night. It's the first lead in the series for the Thunder, the West's No. 1 seed who now will have the chance to win the series in Game 6 in Denver on Thursday night.

When the Nuggets lose like this, they marvel at Nikola Jokic, explain they are frustrated and then nothing changes.