CLEVELAND —  Nuggets coach George Karl is so disinterested in the gossip leading up to the NBA trade deadline that he has mostly sworn off keeping up with the rumors, even if they involve his team.

Ultimately, he leaves all of this up to Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri. But with his team rising in the Western Conference standings and young players appearing to turn the corner in their development, Karl is just fine if a trade isn't made.

"Masai and I have had one conversation about what's going on in the trade world," Karl said. "I'm really very happy with the team. Masai, it's his job to figure out what makes us better and bring that to us. Right now, I don't think there's a lot of urgency for me to

Denver Nuggets

think about it very much."

The trade deadline is Feb. 21.

There aren't many expiring Denver contracts to take advantage of, though center Timofey Mozgov and forward Corey Brewer are in the final year of their deals.

Brewer, one of Denver's top reserves, has expressed his desire to stay. Mozgov, who doesn't play much, has expressed his desire to play more — anywhere.

There are huge question marks about whether the Nuggets will trade anyone. Karl emphasized that after Saturday's shootaround before the Nuggets played the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.

"It would be different if you knew there was a contract, but we're happy with our salary structure, we're happy with our contracts, we're happy with our players," Karl said. "And we're happy with our record."

Then he joked about what's going on throughout the NBA this time of the year.

"I think we're reporting fibs and lies. I know we are, because I used to give out the lies," Karl said, chuckling. "I used to have bets with guys in the league to see who could get something in the paper fastest. We'd make up some trade that was never presented in a hundred years and all of a sudden it's on ESPN."

Faried's focus. The NBA dunk contest in Houston is less than a week away. But with three more road games coming in the next four days, Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried said he's not preparing for the dunk contest just yet.

"It's not really a big issue right now," Faried said. "I'm more worried about games than I am about dunks. That's all I'm focused on. We've got these road games. That's more important than my dunk contest."

But there has been talk that Faried is planning a "bowling ball dunk" of some sort. Faried acknowledged it.

"I really don't know if I'm going to do it or not," he said. "I don't want to end up injured from a dunk contest."

Christopher Dempsey: 303-954-1279, cdempsey@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/ dempseypost