Nuggets recall Monte Morris ahead of Thursday's trade deadline

The Denver Nuggets have recalled point guard Monte Morris from the G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers ahead of Thursday’s 1 p.m. (MT) trade deadline.

Morris, who’s on a two-way contract with Denver that allows him to spend 45 days with the team this season, scored 22 points (10-17 FG’s), and added nine assists, four steals and zero turnovers in 41 minutes for Rio Grande Valley in their 123-117 loss to Northern Arizona Tuesday night.

Morris is averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists and 1.8 steals for the Vipers across 32 games this season. The 22-year-old has appeared in just one game for the Nuggets and logged three minutes in a 103-84 win over the Detroit Pistons Dec. 12.

Denver selected Morris in the second round of the 2017 draft to provide depth at point guard. Morris is a steady lead ball handler who led the NCAA in assist to turnover ratio at Iowa State and is only committing 2.0 turnovers per game this season in the G League despite averaging nearly 35 minutes per contest.

The Nuggets, who are shopping for a point guard ahead of Thursday’s deadline, have reportedly inquired about Tyreke Evans, Marcus Smart and others.

Torrey Craig — Denver’s other two-way player under contract for this season — has nearly exhausted his 45 days with the team. He’s appeared in 24 games (four starts) and is averaging 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Craig played 27 minutes in Denver’s 121-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.