Things Are Getting Wild For The Denver Nuggets

Things Are Getting Wild For The Denver Nuggets

giving away a jersey to a subscriber that turns on our notifications on this channel. And we’re also going to be giving away a jersey of their choice to one of my followers on Instagram that have their notifications on. And now everybody? The date was April 8th, 2025. The Denver Nuggets had just three games left in their regular season and despite having a flawed roster, they were ready to make another championship run. And then Josh Kroni, the team owner, made a decision that changed everything. Michael Malone, the winningest coach in Nuggets franchise history with a 471-327 record. The man who delivered Denver’s first ever NBA championship was fired. And he wasn’t alone. General manager Calvin Booth, who well, you could say helped constructed the roster, but mainly took credit for Tim Conny’s achievements, was shown the door at the same exact time. According to ESPN’s explosive reporting, Malone and Booth had been locked in what sources called a toxic cold war that infected the entire organization. And honestly, if you go back to the beginning of last season, it was clear that Michael Malone wasn’t happy with the construction of the roster. Yeah, losing sucks. That’s my first general thought. No, I’m I’m not going to. to your point, I don’t think there’s any need for a panic. You know, going into the season is shooting is a concern of mine. You know, you lose a guy like KCP who is a 40% three-point shooter. And clearly, Michael Malone and Calvin Booth didn’t see eye to eye in regards to how to build around Nicola Joic. Remember, Calvin Booth famously said that I just want dudes that we try to develop and it’s sustainable. If it costs us the chance to win a championship this year, so be it. It’s worth the investment. It’s about winning three out of six, three out of seven, four out of eight that it is about trying to go back to back. He said this the very August after the Denver Nuggets won a championship. And the tension got so bad that players were literally forced to choose sides between their coach and their GM. One source even explained the situation, saying that if you were one of Calvin’s guys, then Michael Malone doesn’t want to play you. So, think about that for a second. a championship organization led by the three-time MVP Nicole Jokic. The same franchise that just two years earlier was celebrating a championship was now a dysfunctional mess. So, enter David Adelman. If that last name sounds familiar, it should. His father is Hall of Fame head coach Rick Adelman, who won over a thousand NBA games. But David’s path to becoming the Nuggets head coach is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. At just 44 years old, Adelman had spent eight seasons as Denver’s assistant coach, quietly learning and waiting for his opportunity. Adelman inherited a team in crisis with just three games left in the regular season. No time for training camp, no time for implementing systems, no time for anything except pure basketball survival. There’s been multiple clips throughout the brief David Adelman era of Nola Joic making substitutions and Nola Joic literally coaching the Denver Nuggets. And what happened next was remarkable. The Nuggets won all three remaining games. They secured the fourth seed and they took the eventual Western Conference champion OKC Thunder to seven games in the playoffs. Aaron Gordon summed up the team’s feelings. I love Da. I hope he’s here next year. I hope he’s our next head coach. Jamal Murray added, “He puts everybody in the right spots. When it’s time to lock in, he can lock you in.” But Adelman’s impact went beyond X’s and O’s. As Yic noted after the season, he had three games to change something. And I think he changed the energy. With Malone and Booth both gone, the Nuggets needed new leadership in the front office. And they did something that I personally haven’t seen before. Instead of hiring one general manager, they did something unprecedented. They hired two. On June 23rd, 2025, Denver announced Ben Tenzer and John Wallace as co-executives. Tenzer, who’d been with the Nuggets since 2005, was their cap expert, but became executive vice president of basketball operations. Wallace, who had previously worked for Denver before following Tim Connelly to Minnesota, returned as executive vice president of player personnel. Josh Kroni explained the unusual structure, saying that we have the utmost confidence in both Ben and Jon, and they have been integral parts of our team already. This cog approach set the stage of what would become one of the most active and controversial offseasons in Nuggets history. And the first major decision that the Denver Nuggets made sent shock waves throughout the Western Conference. On June 30th, 2025, the first day of free agency, Shams dropped a bomb. Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first round pick to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson. Let that sink in. This is what the Nuggets traded away. Lobby like you’re not attracted to them at all. And it’s like, okay, now you have to you have to them and pretend that you like it. No, that’s definitely awful. And this is what they got in return. It’s the squaring of shoulder. So anytime you’re going left, it’s just so easy to turn that lead shoulder. But when you’re going right, the shoulder, the arm that’s shooting the ball is is actively away from the hoop. So then you have to ro rotate in order to square it with the hoop while maintaining speed. But still, the Nuggets traded a player who was second in franchise history with 843 made three-pointers. And this wasn’t just about what Porter had done. It was about what he hadn’t done when it mattered the most. Here’s the brutal truth that led to the trade. Michael Porter Jr. completely disappeared in the playoffs. And we’re not just talking about a small dip in production. We’re talking about a $35.8 million player becoming a complete liability. So, let me throw some numbers at you. During the regular season, Michael Porter Jr. averaged 18.2 points per game on 50.4% shooting and 39.5% from three. But in the playoffs versus OKC, he averaged 7.4 points per game on 32.2% 2% shooting in seven games. In game seven alone, he had six points on three of eight shooting and was 0 for four from three. Michael Porter Jr. even admitted his failure, saying, “I haven’t been contributing in any way right now. A lot of the reason we lost is because I’m not helping contribute.” And at the same time, yes, Michael Porter Jr. was playing with a grade 2 AC joint sprain in his left shoulder, and that is an injury that typically requires four to five weeks to heal. But here’s the thing. If you’re going to play hurt, you better help your team win. Porter’s heroic attempts were actually hurting Denver’s championship chances. So, let’s talk about this trade because this trade has been on my bucket list and I was very frustrated that I was sick when this trade went down cuz it is my favorite trade of the offseason as a fan of basketball. And honestly, it terrifies me as a Los Angeles Lakers fan. This isn’t just a straight player swap. Denver had to give up a very valuable asset to make this trade go down. an unprotected 2032 first round pick. Can you think about how valuable that pick is going to be? By 2032, Nola Joic will be 37 years old, likely retired or in serious decline. That pick could easily be a lottery pick, making it incredibly valuable for a rebuilding Nets team that is already stockpiling draft capital. The fact that Denver was willing to part with such a valuable future asset shows just how desperate they were to maximize Jokic’s prime years, which is the exact opposite of what they were doing in the Calvin Booth era. So, let’s talk about exactly what Denver is getting in Cam Johnson. If you just take a look at their numbers, statistically speaking, Cam Johnson and Michael Porter Jr. practically look like the same player. As a matter of fact, you could even say that Michael Porter Jr. is a better rebounder because throughout the regular season, Cam Johnson averaged 18.8 8 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game on 47.5% shooting from the field, and 39% shooting from three. Whereas Porter averaged 18.2 points per game, seven rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game on 50.4% shooting from the field, and 39.5% from three. But here’s where Johnson separates himself. At 6’8, Johnson can guard multiple positions and doesn’t get targeted like Michael Porter Jr. does in the playoffs. Johnson also showed an improved ability to create his own shot in Brooklyn, which adds a brand new dimension to his game. And there’s no question about it that the chemistry with Nicole Joic will be significantly better than what he had with Michael Porter Jr. where Nuggets fans have famously me’d him for ending each and every possession because Michael Porter Jr. isn’t necessarily known for passing the ball once he gets the ball in his hands. But this trade wasn’t just about basketball. It was a salary cap masterclass. Here’s what Denver also was able to accomplish. They immediately saved $17.2 million for the 2025 to26 season alone. They saved $34.9 million over the next 2 years. They dropped below the luxury tax line completely and they created a $16.8 million trade exception for future moves. They now have their full $16 million mid-level exception. And this trade would result in the Yonas Valenunis trade, which we’re going to cover in just a second because that’s where this video gets very spicy. But essentially, the Nuggets twoman brain trust turned Porter’s salary into four players. Cam Johnson, Jonas Valenunis, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr. And what was the Denver Nuggets biggest problem following their 2023 championship? Their lack of depth. They lost Jeff Green. They lost Bruce Brown. One year later, they lose Contavius Caldwell Pope. And they didn’t really have an answer. Now, from the Brooklyn Nets perspective, this trade represents the ultimate high-risisk, highreward move. They’re betting that Porter’s playoff struggles were purely injury related and that his regular season production will translate in Brooklyn. Before this trade went down, Las Vegas put Denver at plus,600 odds to win the NBA championship for next season. Following the trade, they are at plus 600, which makes them second favorites right behind the defending champion OKC Thunder. And that’s why this trade is so significant. It’s a complete philosophical shift for Denver. They went from betting on talent and upside to prioritizing reliability and depth. Don’t get me wrong, Cam Johnson might not have Michael Porter Junior’s ceiling, but he brings exactly what Denver needed, a reliable two-way player who won’t disappear when the lights are brightest. And at $17.2 million less per year, he gives Denver the financial flexibility to build the championship caliber depth that they’ve been missing. And that’s not to say that Brooklyn made a bad trade. Each team made the best trade possible for where each team is at. And I won’t be surprised if this trade helps Denver win a championship and years down the line, their draft pick proves to be very valuable for the Brooklyn Nets. Now, I want to get to the main event. This is the main reason I made this video. It’s a story that’s so absurd that when I first read it, I couldn’t believe it. On July 1st, 2025, the Nuggets made another brilliant move. They traded Dario Sar’s expiring contract to Sacramento for Yonas Valenunis, which finally solved their backup center problem. Valenunis was a proven veteran, a former starter who could give them 15 to 20 quality minutes behind Joic. He was owed just $10.4 million for the season with a team option for the next year. Perfect, right? Wrong. Just 48 hours after the trade was agreed upon, there was another bomb that was dropped on us. Valenunis was close to accepting a three-year offer from Greek powerhouse Pantheenos Athens. Let me repeat that. a player who just got traded to a championship contender who would be playing alongside the three-time MVP wanted to leave the NBA so he could play in Greece. The offer from Greece was 3 years and $13 million. That’s roughly $4.3 million per year. Valenunis would be giving up 7 million over 2 years to play in Europe instead of competing for an NBA championship. And it gets crazier. Reports emerged that Valenunis had actually flown to Athens, was photographed arriving for a medical exam and was ready to sign. One columnist joked about him tasting Spanacopa and visiting the Parthonon while the Nuggets scrambled to figure out what was happening. And here’s where the Nuggets showed some backbone. League sources told Mark Stein that the Nuggets are signaling to Yonas Valenunis that they do not intend to let him out of his NBA contract. And the reasons are pretty obvious. One, they’d face $10.4 $.4 million in dead cap space if they waved him. Two, they desperately needed a backup center. And three, they just traded away Dario Sarge to get him. But this doesn’t make any sense. Why would a 33-year-old accept a three-year contract when he most likely could earn $24.4 million from the Nuggets and play a valuable role on a championship contender. The legal situation was clear. Under NBA/VA agreements, players can’t simply break contracts to sign elsewhere. Valenunis would need the Nuggets to agree to a buyout and Denver was essentially saying that you’re playing for us whether you like it or not. But when you take a step back and you look at the complete picture, the Denver Nuggets off season was a masterclass in roster construction. They added an elite 3 and D wing in Cam Johnson, a proven backup center in Yonis Valenunis, one of their most dependable fan favorite role players in Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr. who could thrive next to Nicole Yic. In my opinion, the Denver Nuggets are the most improved team of the offseason, but they’re also dealing with one of the most bizarre situations in NBA history. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is going to blow up in their face. I mean, if you just take a look at the whole picture, they have a firsttime head coach in David Adelman who already has the team bought in. They have co-general managers making bold moves in their first off seasonason. They also have a roster that’s built perfectly around Nicola Joic if everybody decides to show up. They have the second best odds of winning the NBA championship despite how loaded the Western Conference is this year. The only problem is the Jonas Valentuna situation needs to be resolved. But one thing’s for certain, Denver’s off season proves that even championship franchises aren’t immune to drama. From the shocking coaching change to the Porter trade to the Valenunis Gree saga, this team has given us enough storylines to last an entire off season. But at the end of the day, these co-general managers did an excellent job building around Nicola Joic. And it’s really nice to see Nicole Joic’s prime not go to complete waste. Let me know in the comments section down below what do you guys think about the Nuggets off season. Aside from that, I’m your boy Mike and I’m dropping our mic until our next upload.

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