The Denver Nuggets are coming off a second round loss to the eventual NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Nuggets actually pushed the Thunder to the brink of elimination thanks to the stellar play from Nikola Jokic.
However, they were blown out in Game 7, which exposed a lot of problems the Nuggets had to address in the offseason.
Denver wasted no time and made some big moves, which now puts them in a nice position to potentially return to the NBA Finals this season.
Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver PostAaron Gordon mentions Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas, ‘we have a squad’
The biggest move the Nuggets made this offseason was trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson.
Johnson will give the Nuggets the same type of offensive production as Porter Jr., with better defense.
However, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon was on NBA Today and pointed out two other additions the Nuggets made that have him excited for the upcoming season.
“Brucey B is back. Uh oh. There might be problems for y’all.
“That’s a squad, especially with big Val too.
“Big Val is going to hold that down. That’s a boy.
“We have a squad. I’m excited.”
Denver Nuggets addressed two big holes with Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas
The Nuggets needed to address their bench depth going into the offseason and they did exactly that.
They reunited with Bruce Brown, who will take on the sixth man role for this season. Brown was instrumental for Denver, helping them win the 2023 NBA Championship.
Another big hole the Nuggets addressed was getting a capable backup center for Jokic.
Jokic was having to stay on the floor a ton and took a lot of punishment down low. Now, the Nuggets can give him adequate rest and have Jonas Valanciunas step in and play important minutes at the center position.
The Nuggets are now positioned as a Western Conference powerhouse for the 2025-26 NBA season.