There’s a reckoning due in Denver after a stunning first-round playoff loss to a Minnesota Timberwolves team that played two-plus games without Anthony Edwards and Donte Divincenzo.
Per multiple reports, it won’t come on the sideline. Nuggets head coach David Adelman is expected to return next season, according to the Denver Post’s Bennett Durando and ESPN’s Shams Charania. But anybody not named Nikola Jokić on the roster is expected to be expendable.
Would Nuggets part with Jamal Murray?
Per Charania, the Nuggets are expected to field calls this offseason for any player but Jokić. This includes Jamal Murray, Jokić’s two-man partner who helped lead the Nuggets to their first and only NBA championship in 2023.
Jokić, meanwhile, is expected to sign a four-year, roughly $290 million extension this summer, according to Charania. On the heels of the disappointing playoff loss, the Nuggets are under pressure to rebuild a contender around their three-time MVP for the remainder of his prime.
Denver attempted to do so last offseason after a seven-game loss to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs. They traded Michael Porter Jr. in a move that triggered an effort to build needed depth around Denver’s talented starting five.
But that depth frequently failed to surface in Denver’s playoff loss to Minnesota and was further tested by injuries to Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon. Watson missed the entire series with a hamstring injury, and Gordon missed Games 3, 5 and 6 with a calf strain, exacerbating an injury-plagued season that limited him to 36 regular-season games.
Can Nuggets fix depth, rim-protection issues?
As Minnesota took control of the series from Game 2 on, the Nuggets ran an inconsistent cast of bench players that failed to provide reliable production.
By the end of games against the Timberwolves, Jokić and Murray frequently looked gassed. Each played arguably the worst playoff series of his career against a swarming Minnesota defense.
The Timberwolves, meanwhile, exposed Denver’s lack of rim protection throughout the series. Ayo Donsumu had a career game with 43 points off the bench in Game 4, highlighted by frequent attacks on an unprotected basket.
Terrance Shannon Jr. repeatedly scored uncontested buckets at the rim in a 24-point effort in Minnesota’s closeout win in Game 6. There’s a defensive hole at the basket that won’t be plugged by a healthy Gordon.
Nuggets don’t have much room to maneuver
Fixing Denver’s roster issues will require some creativity. The Nuggets have an expensive roster and don’t have a lot to offer in return to a team looking to build for the future.
Their 2026 first-round pick is the 26th in the draft. The Nuggets traded their first-round pick in 2027 to the Thunder, barring top-five protection kicking in.
Christian Braun is likely untradeable after a down season and playoffs (8.3 ppg, 41.7% from the field) and a five-year, $125 million extension set to kick in.
And the Nuggets as constructed project to have roughly $203 million to $214 million in salary next season, well over the projected $165 million salary cap and flirting with the projected $209 million first apron. That’s before any effort to re-sign pending free agents Spencer Jones, Bruce Brown, Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr.
Murray’s due roughly $111 million on the remaining two years of his four-year, $208 million contract. For a team seeking cap relief, parting with his contract could be an appealing, if painful, prospect if there’s another team interested in taking his contract after a likely All-NBA season. But it would mean parting with a beloved championship-winning player in his prime.
Whatever the Nuggets decide to do to maximize the remainder of Jokić’s prime, it won’t come easy.
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