Thursday was the day that most clearly marked this as a season of huge change for the Nuggets. Everyone knows the buzzwords — salary cap space, assets, young talent — all indicators of a season gone south and the start of a long-term rebuilding plan.

For a team that had playoff aspirations in the preseason, it was a downer.

“It’s not exciting,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “It’s midseason. We’re not in the best of places and there’s change that’s being made. So, the only thing that you could say the somewhat exciting part about it is, it’s over.”

The Nuggets didn’t gut their roster at the NBA trading deadline so much as they created financial flexibility.

In their biggest move, the Nuggets sent center JaVale McGee to the Philadelphia 76ers in a salary dump. McGee, in the second-to-last year of his four-year, $44 million contract, has played very little in the past two seasons because of injuries.

The Nuggets included a first-round draft pick in the trade, which they had acquired from Cleveland in the Timofey Mozgov trade in January. Denver also gave up the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum in exchange for the rights to Cenk Akyol, a 6-foot-6 guard from Turkey who was drafted by Atlanta in 2005. Akyol averaged 6.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game this season for Galatasaray of the Turkish Basketball League.

“We thought flexibility going forward financially on that deal was too good to pass up,” Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly said. “Not just getting off future monies, but also creating a pretty big trade exception that hopefully we can use in a creative fashion.”

Just minutes before they shipped out McGee, the Nuggets sent guard Arron Afflalo, along with high-energy defensive forward Alonzo Gee, to Portland for players and future draft picks. The Nuggets received a future first-round pick, a future second-round pick and several players — Thomas Robinson, Victor Claver and Will Barton — in return.

Robinson won’t be with the Nuggets, who bought out his contract Thursday night.

The trades created nearly $19 million in traded player exceptions — $11.2 million for McGee, $7.5 million for Afflalo — a boon for a team looking to make itself over in the next eight months.

“We traded away three real pros,” Connelly said. “We brought Arron here to be relevant again in the Western Conference, kind of firm up our starting (shooting) guard spot. As the losses piled up, we just thought it was a good chance for us to get a future asset.”

Afflalo was reacquired by Denver last June in a trade with Orlando, but the Nuggets’ struggles and desire to reshape the roster dictated they move him.

“Since the day I entered the league I’ve created high expectations within myself to be the best basketball player I can be. And I feel like playing for a championship is the only thing you should ever play for,” Afflalo said. “And that mind-set of mine will never waver, individually or from a team concept. So, as you get traded, it may seem like you get frustrated or disappointed. But the truth is, for me it’s a positive frustration. I’m trying to push myself to be better individually and try to be part of a group that wants to win a championship.”

He will get that opportunity with the Trail Blazers, who are in third place in the Western Conference.

“It’s disappointing that we’re at this juncture of the season and we’re not in the playoff mix,” Connelly said. “Certainly when things don’t go your way, you try to make the best of a bad situation.”

In addition to the trades, Denver signed rookie power forward Joffrey Lauvergne. The 6-foot-11 Frenchman was drafted by Memphis in 2013 and subsequently traded to Denver, along with Darrell Arthur, for Kosta Koufos.

Lauvernge, a member of the French national team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, appeared in 27 games for BC Khimki of the Russian Super League last season and averaged 9.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost

Shaking it up

The Nuggets made two trades Thursday, shipping out three players, to create nearly $19 million in traded player exceptions as they begin a full-scale rebuilding:

JaVale McGee, C, to Philadelphia

Bottom line: The Nuggets were so willing to get rid of McGee’s $12 million contract next year, they included a first-round draft pick in the deal. In return, they received an $11.25 million trade exception.

Arron Afflalo, G, to Portland



Alonzo Gee, F, to Portland

Bottom line: The Nuggets acquired three players, none of whom is central to their future, but netted them first- and second-round draft picks and a $7.5 million trade exception.