Up to that point look at the return for stars who had been traded recently. On the high end you had Shaq (two semi stars and a filler contract), KG (one good young big guy who didn't really stick) and TMac (two emo ass guards who'd already peaked). On the low end you had guys like AI and Barkley being given away or maybe some low-key salvage type of shit (Gasol for Gasol).

Melo set a new standard, you saw a similar deal with Deron right afterward and you saw the league step in and say if the Hornets couldn't get that kind of quality, they shouldn't fuck with a deal for Paul.

So, uh, yeah, the Nuggs got a great deal and it's been known since the minute the trade was announced. I would take it a step further, not only did they win the deal from a relative standpoint, they won the deal outright. Already their team is as good as it was and the pieces they retained are still improving.