NBA Trade Rumors: Dallas Mavericks Exploring Trade of Rudy Fernandez to Nuggets

Rudy Fernandez was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks as part of a draft-night trade, but by the looks of things he may never get to play a game for the defending NBA Champions.

Now that Dallas has signed Vince Carter and Delonte West, and acquired Lamar Odom from the Los Angeles Lakers, Fernandez has become more than expendable.

Dallas is currently working on a trade to send Fernandez to the Denver Nuggets for future draft considerations, reports ESPN's Marc Stein. The Nuggets are also interested in acquiring Dallas swing man Corey Brewer.

Nuggets head coach George Karl is the biggest component pushing for the acquisition of Fernandez, even going as far as promising him a starting spot, according to international basketball site TuBasket.com.

In Fernandez, Denver would get a very athletic wing player that can handle the ball and has great vision of the floor.

His reputation on the offensive end off the floor is that as a great shooter, but in reality he's really not that great from behind the arc, connecting only 36.4 percent of the time. He is an excellent free-throw shooter, though, knocking down close to 86 percent of his attempts.

That said, he can create, even though he wasn't asked to do a lot of that in Portland.

He's also a talent on the defensive end of the floor, where he can hang with any guard.

If Denver can land Fernandez, they will be getting a good player who likely will put up better numbers than he did in his time in Portland.