Local and national voices alike are loving the Denver Nuggets’ offseason, believing the work done by the team’s new brass has placed them in the NBA’s elite class.
The Nuggets are coming off a Game 7 Round 2 exit to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the team has made significant changes for the first time in many years — all the while keeping most of their good things intact. It’s the fresh set of eyes that new co-executives Jonathan Wallace and Ben Tenzer have given the Nuggets that helped push a Michael Porter Jr. trade. It’s the first player trade Denver made in a year, and it’s the first that impacts the starting lineup since 2022.
The reality is the Nuggets didn’t need to make a major move for a long time because the team was so successful, winning a title and getting home court in the two years that followed. But it became clear last season that the Nuggets were now a step below the Thunder and Cavaliers — plus they couldn’t beat the Timberwolves.
It’s with that the Nuggets hit the summer looking at a bit of a reset. The issue is that the team didn’t have many draft picks to move, nor clear players to trade away. Denver hit reset by trading MPJ and a future first-round pick for valued wing Cameron Johnson. Then they utilized the money saved in that deal to flip bust Dario Saric for longtime successful big man Jonas Valanciunas. Still, the team has maintained some extra savings that they could use this summer on their 15th and final roster spot or carry over the resources into the season to see what the team may need.
Denver also added franchise icon Bruce Brown back into the mix and signed veteran shooter Tim Hardaway Jr. The four moves give the Nuggets a level of depth they didn’t have last year and bolster the team’s dead-last shooting marks a ton. It should allow rookie head coach David Adelman much more optionality and less reliance on Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
Again, the Nuggets aren’t even necessarily done, but what Wallace and Tenzer have accomplished already vaults the team back into the top tier of the league. It’s something I’ve talked about on the Mile High Hoops Podcast, a rise in hope that the bookmakers have noted and a belief now shared by ESPN’s team of experts. In another story, ESPN recently rated the Nuggets offseason as an A-, also third-best.
ESPN’s mid-summer NBA power ranking
Oklahoma City Thunder
Houston Rockets
Denver Nuggets
Cleveland Cavaliers
New York Knicks
The teams ahead of the Nuggets make sense because those are the teams that finished above them in the standings last spring.
Not much needs to be said about the Thunder, who won the title and have spent their summer rewarding their core with longer-term deals. They should have a few hungry bench players that will be healthy this season, which will help carry them through the regular season as they deal with a target on their back.
Then there’s the Rockets, who won two more games than the Nuggets last year and got their first taste of the playoffs with this group. Not only did they get experience, but they added a ton of it in the offseason by adding Dorian Finney-Smith and Clint Capela. They’re expected to be a year older and better, especially Amen Thompson, who was taking a leap in the second half of last season, and former top pick Reed Sheppard. They also made the biggest trade of the offseason, swapping leading scorer Jalen Green for Hall of Famer Kevin Durant. The forward makes the team much bigger, better at shooting and solves the team’s late-game scoring issues.
Below the Nuggets are the Cavs and Knicks out East. Each has lost some things and gained some things this summer. Both have an easy path, aside from running into each other, out East, because of the injuries in the conference. The Cavs picked up Lonzo Ball while the Knicks added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele.
The team that dropped out of the top five to make room for the Knicks is the Wolves. Notable to the Nuggets since Minny has won every game against Denver since Game 6 of Round 2 in the 2024 playoffs. The Wolves lost Nickeil Alexander-Walker this summer but kept both Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Some young players may improve next year, but they’ve already been to two straight conference finals, so they should be taken seriously.
