Somebody put Nick Van Exel out of his misery.
As the captain of a sinking ship, there are no trade winds on the horizon, especially for a $10 million point guard who now has a back injury that sent him to the locker room for most of the second half of Denver's game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

The Nuggets could have used Van Exel in the final seconds. Down by one point, their leading scorer was receiving treatment as they misfired on four consecutive possessions in an 82-80 loss.

A helpless feeling, perhaps?