DENVER • So let me get this straight: On the same Thursday, Los Angeles welcomed NBA star Russell Westbrook (to the Lakers) and Cy Young ace Max Scherzer (to the Dodgers)?

And Colorado gets wave after wave of Los Angeles transplants who can’t drive in the snow?

Who Ok’ed this raw deal? The Rockies?

There was nothing the Nuggets could do in the NBA draft to stop the inevitable: As long as Lebron James is able to flop and chew gum at the same time, the game revolves around King James. It doesn’t matter the Lakers stumbled through last season. According to media reports, they stumbled into a trade with the Wizards and a Big 3 of Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis.

The next edition of the Lakers is both combustible and the betting favorite to win the NBA title.

Sorry to be the bearer of all the bad news.

At least the Nuggets made another outstanding draft pick by taking Virginia Commonwealth’s Nah’shon “Bones” Hyland at No. 26 of the first round. Cool beans. There is zero fear in his game. As one opposing college coach said late Thursday, “Kid ain’t afraid. He will come to play.”

Colorado will love Hyland — not to mention the rainbow skylines with “Bones” on the

back. Shoot, in an interview with the Nuggets, Hyland rapped for Tim Connelly and Michael Malone.

“All due respect to ‘Bone Thugs-n-harmony,’ I’m the real Bones,” Hyland joked, I think.

Wait till you see his smile, not to mention his shooting range. “Bones” is going to fit right in.

Here’s what another coach from the Atlantic 10 Conference said about Hyland:

“Incredible scorer. Big-time shooter.

He made teams change the way they guarded just for him. A little slight, not weak, just skinny. Very competitive. Ultra-confident.” That’s a good look for the 26th pick.

The ideal scenario has the 20-year-old Hyland developing into a scorer off the bench for the Nuggets.

But that’s for down the road, a year or three. What about right now — next season?

The only way the Nuggets are going to keep up with the Jameses is with a blockbuster deal of their own — and in

the heart of the Nikola Jokic era, not a second should be wasted. Anyone not named Joker or Jamal Murray should be on the table for Wizards super-scorer Bradley Beal.

Armed with the best player in team history, they should do everything possible to execute their biggest trade.

What better time than now?

The Wizards just traded Westbrook to the Lakers for a sack of old Bullets jerseys. New Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. is barely unpacked after six years as a Nuggets coach.

And no opposing basketball boss is more connected to the Wizards franchise than Tim Connelly, the Denver boss who had a friendly interview in Washington two years ago.

(He wasn’t leaving. Guy loves it here.)

With all those factors at work, there must be somehow, someway, to pry away Beal from the rebuilding Wizards.

Gotta be. And nobody has time for salary cap talk.

If the Lakers can make the numbers work with Lebron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, and still

afford happy hour at “Ollie’s Duck & Dive” in Malibu, the salary cap should not be considered an impediment to anyone.

Back to “Bones.”

As the top dog at VCU, Bones missed out on the NCAA Tournament in two consecutive years — once due to the COVID-19 cancelation, once because his VCU squad was disqualified and sent home after a few positive COVID-19 tests.

“If everything had went how it should have went, I would be a top-10 pick for sure,” Hyland said.

The Nuggets always need

the bones to fall right for a real title chance. It’s fun to think of the Nuggets as a real-deal championship contender.

And with the Joker, anything is possible.

But when the Brooklyn Nets can roll out Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, and the Lakers come with James, Westbrook and Davis, isn’t that wishful thinking a tad optimistic?

Find a way to get Bradley Beal and suddenly it’s not.