Denver received Marcus Camby; Mark Jackson; rights to Nenê from New York Knicks, sending Antonio McDyess; rights to Frank Williams; 2003 second-round pick (#30-Maciej Lampe) in return.
Denver sent Antonio McDyess, the draft rights to Frank Williams and a future second-round pick to New York on draft night in 2002. In return, the Nuggets received Marcus Camby, veteran guard Mark Jackson and the draft rights to Nenê, who had just been selected seventh overall. The structure gave Denver one proven defensive big and one young center-forward prospect while New York concentrated its value in McDyess.
Camby became a multi-year Denver starter, one of the league’s premier shot blockers and the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year. Nenê developed into an even longer-tenured frontcourt piece and spent nearly a decade with the Nuggets. Jackson’s stay was brief, but Denver did not need him to carry the return because Camby and Nenê together produced years of starting-level value and playoff minutes.
The Knicks were acquiring a former All-Star-level power forward, so the trade-day logic was understandable, but McDyess fractured his left kneecap in the 2002 preseason and missed the entire season. He ultimately played only a small number of regular-season games for New York before being traded again. Frank Williams and Maciej Lampe also failed to offset the lost value. The injury was bad luck rather than bad intent, but hindsight grading has to count the result.
This deal also included more than the two best-known big men. Denver acquired the rights to Nenê immediately after he was selected seventh in the 2002 draft, plus Camby and Mark Jackson, while New York received Frank Williams's rights and a second-round pick later tied to No. 30 Maciej Lampe in 2003. The Nuggets had to develop the young Brazilian and get sustained availability from Camby; those favorable outcomes were not guaranteed on trade day. New York instead put much of its investment into McDyess's near-term health and a hoped-for return to top form. His preseason kneecap injury made that concentrated risk particularly costly. Because Nenê's productive Nuggets years and Camby's defensive honors actually followed, the hindsight margin is stronger than a simple comparison of projected talent on the night of the exchange.
Nuggets Win — Denver A+, New York F. Denver received two long-term frontcourt starters in Marcus Camby and Nenê, with Camby eventually winning Defensive Player of the Year. New York’s centerpiece, Antonio McDyess, suffered a devastating knee injury before playing a regular-season game for the Knicks and never supplied the star-level return they had purchased. The gap between realized outcomes is enormous even after giving New York credit for defensible trade-day logic.