Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:
NBA Insider
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise Spencer Jones is a fast learner.
The Nuggets’ two-way forward spent five seasons at Stanford after all. Now, he’s using his brain to make the most of an extended opportunity to start in his second NBA season. That means figuring out how to make the most of playing alongside the best player in basketball, Nikola Jokic.
“It’s just naturally learning where to move and position, especially when he gets doubled,” Jones said Monday after the best game of his young NBA career.
“The biggest issue was just figuring out where those shots are going to come from, and now I kind of have an idea. When you know that, you get a little bit more confident in it. The biggest thing is just experience and getting minutes out there.”
So far, Jokic is giving his new starting power forward a passing grade.
“He was shooting the ball really good tonight. He’s playing really hard on defense, cutting, trying to be in the right place, figuring out stuff,” Jokic said. “Having more playing time is going to help him. He’s doing good.”
The 3-point shot has long been a consistent part of Jones’ game. He left Palo Alto as the Cardinals career leader in made 3s, while shooting 39.7% from deep over five college seasons. He spent most of last year in Grand Rapids with the Nuggets’ G League affiliate, and he shot 37.8% from deep in his first year as a professional. The start to his NBA career is the exception.
In limited NBA minutes last year, Jones went 1 of 17 from 3-point range. He started this season 4 for 14 before going 4 for 6 in each of Denver’s last two games.
“He shot the ball so well last year in the G League, and I know some things don’t translate if you play less minutes, because it’s a lot different to not play 30-plus minutes,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said after Monday’s loss to the Mavericks. “You find your rhythm through multiple shots. But now he’s playing minutes, and he’s finding a rhythm to something he’s already been doing really well, just not here and not with us.”
The injuries to Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon created room for Jones to make the first five starts of his NBA career in the last couple of weeks, as Denver has an increased need for defensive-minded players. Jones established a reputation over the offseason as a stopper, and the reward was more consistent playing time than some teammates on standard contracts — even before the injuries hit.
On the offensive end, Jones credited Gordon for helping him learn how to make the most of playing in the dunker’s spot, a small piece of real estate along the baseline just outside the lane. Meanwhile, Braun has offered tips on cutting for uncontested buckets.
“That’s his bread and butter,” Jones said of Gordon’s comfort in the dunker’s spot before moving onto Braun. “He always gets a lot of those easy buckets off it. Now, I’m kind of finding those spots.”
That help combined with Jones’ shot coming around has led to back-to-back career highs. He followed up Saturday’s 16-point performance with nine rebounds, another career-best, with 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting against Dallas. While the shooting has come around more recently, the defense is what’s gotten Jones on the court despite his status as a two-way player.
“I loved his energy tonight. He’s one of the few guys I would say really competed defensively on the ball and got into people physically. That’s what we need more of from the other guys,” Adelman said.
“’Spence’ had a career night. Unfortunately, it was a night that we just didn’t do enough on the defensive end, so we could enjoy it for him.”
Nuggets forward Spencer Jones, left, drives to the net as Dallas Mavericks center Dwight Powell, right, defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
What I’m Thinking
It’s not going to be easy, but caution is the best course of action after Jamal Murray’s latest injury.
Murray was on his way to another big game Monday, but he walked gingerly back toward the Nuggets’ locker room at halftime after tweaking his ankle in the final minute of the second quarter. He started the third quarter but asked out of the game only 1 minute into the second half. He briefly returned but didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know how he’s doing. I know he tried, because that’s Jamal,” the Nuggets coach said afterward. “Jamal’s tough. If he sits himself because of the pain, you know it probably hurts.”
Denver’s point guard is questionable to play in Wednesday’s game at Indiana with a right ankle sprain. He’s the type to play through injury whenever given the choice. There’s urgency with the Nuggets 3-3 in the last six games and in the middle of a pack of six teams in the Western Conference’s second tier. Murray’s also making his strongest case yet to be a first-time All-Star.
Heading into Monday’s game, Murray’s averages of 24 points, 6.6 assists and 4.5 rebounds would all be the best marks of his 10-year career. Without Murray, the Nuggets scored just 17 points in the fourth quarter when the trusted two-man game with Nikola Jokic typically takes over.
“He’s a great player for us. He can score. He can get other people involved,” Jokic said. “But if someone is down, we cannot think about him. We need some other guy to step up, and we need to find a way to win a game.”
Bruce Brown, who played through an illness Monday, and Tim Hardaway Jr. had their minutes increased. Adelman said he didn’t think it was fair for reserve guard Jalen Pickett to be thrown into the mix given the uncertainty surrounding Murray’s availability in the second half. There’s more time to prepare for Wednesday’s game against the Pacers and Friday’s game against the Hawks. Both teams will be without their respective star guards, Tyrese Haliburton and Trae Young, and should be winnable without Murray.
“It was one of those games, I thought it was going to be 15 assists, 20 points. Obviously, what we do at the end of the game, it has a lot to do with him and Nikola playing the two-man game that really spreads the floor for us,” Adelman said.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray struggles to collect the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
What They’re Saying
One area where Jones is still learning is avoiding fouls. He picked up his first and second fouls in a 14-second span in the middle of the first quarter.
“I have a habit of picking them up pretty quick,” Jones said. “That’s when I had to kind of take it back. That’s not a natural thing for me to do, so it’s always difficult kind of working through that. … You’re young. You got to build a relationship with these refs, and everything like that. That will come.”
Braun’s and Gordon’s absences are the loudest, but Julian Strawther has also been out since Nov. 15 with a back issue. Denver’s coach provided an update that made it sound like Strawther would miss considerably more time.
“He’s been doing minimal movement stuff. He was on the exercise machines today. I think it’s just a process of the shot working and then seeing where it leads to, just through activity, not basketball activity or physicality. So, at this moment, I really don’t have any update on him,” Adelman said prior to Monday’s game.
“He just woke up with pain and then it just got considerably worse … we’re just trying to work our way through it.”
What I’m Following
Danilo Gallinari announced his retirement on Monday. The 37-year-old, who was a member of the Nuggets from 2011-17, most recently played for Vaqueros de Bayamon in Puerto Rico. The Italian most recently played in the NBA as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023-24 season.
Nikola Jokic on Tuesday was named the first Western Conference player of the month of the season. Jokic averaged 28.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 10.9 assists in games played in October and November. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham won the Eastern Conference’s award.
Nuggets wing Cam Johnson has a new gig. Johnson was named the new host of the popular “The Old Man and the Three” podcast, replacing JJ Redick, who left to coach the Lakers. Johnson kicked things off Tuesday with an hourlong conversation with new teammate Aaron Gordon.
Former Nuggets guard Collin Gillespie dropped a career-high 28 points on the back of eight made 3-pointers in Phoenix’s win over the Lakers. Gillespie spent the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons on a two-way contract with the Nuggets.
The Pelicans are once again going to be without Zion Williamson for an extended stretch. The power forward will miss at least three weeks with a right adductor strain.
Denver Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari (8) drives around Houston Rockets’ Trevor Ariza as Nikola Jokic (15) blocks in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)