The Denver Nuggets were just one game away from taking down the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and advancing to the Western Conference Finals. If they didn’t blow a late lead in Game 4 and Game 5 of the series, they might not have even needed a Game 7 to try and take down the best team in the West.

Instead, a combination of injuries and poor roster construction let the franchise down and sent them packing earlier than they wanted to for a second straight season. After the Game 7 loss, Nikola Jokic expressed how the Nuggets didn’t have the depth as some of the other teams that made it deep in the postseason.

Jokic on their depth: “We definitely need it. It seems like the teams that have longer rotations, longer bench, are the ones who are winning. Indiana. OKC. Minnesota” pic.twitter.com/7cJHEZBLM9

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) May 18, 2025

By the end of the postseason, Denver had six players that played significant minutes, three of whom were fighting brutal injuries that would’ve kept them out for any regular season game in Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook. Besides a Julian Strawther explosion in Game 6 against Oklahoma City, the rest of the bench didn’t provide much juice for Denver.

Yes, Peyton Watson played a decent amount of minutes and had some blocks, but he couldn’t make a layup to save his life.

Last week, Nuggets President Josh Kroenke agreed with Jokic on the lack of depth on the roster, saying that he heard the three-time NBA MVP “loud and clear.” On Wednesday, he reiterated his point and tied it into belief within the organizational.

“It starts with belief, and that was one of our main topics of discussion whenever we made the changes six weeks ago, was re-establishing belief in that locker room,” Kroenke said. “So I think, if you ask us, there’s a firm belief that they can achieve their ultimate goal. Can they achieve that as currently constructed? I think the answer, as [Jokic] said after the playoffs ended, was obviously no. So, we need to take a hard look at how we can raise our ceiling going forward, whether that’s internally or externally.”

The first step in re-establishing belief is to find a new general manager to call the shots on what players will be on the floor next to Jokic come the 2026 postseason. While that position could be filled by the current interim in Ben Tenzer, Kroenke has also reiterated that it could be filled by an external hire as well.

No matter who the general manager is when the season starts in October, Kroenke knows that the roster and the organization is not where it should be with a guy like Jokic leading this way, and he emphasized his frustrations on Wednesday.

“The standards have gone up significantly around here, and to feel like losing a heartbreaker in Game 7 in the second round of the NBA playoffs is a massive disappointment,” Kroenke said. “But from where we were a long time ago, it makes me proud, but I’m disappointed with where we are currently because we have a real shot to compete. I think if you look at the teams still playing, we feel, while they’re still playing, with a little bit of health and maybe a little bit of luck, maybe it could be us. But it’s not, and we’re very conscious of that and how we need to go about improving going forward.”

With a talent like Jokic, winning one championship isn’t enough. Denver still has some years left before the Jokic title window is closed, and they need to do whatever they can to maximize that and build a better roster around him, and that starts with the decisions made by Kroenke and the rest of the front office. As seen in Game 5 against the Thunder, Jokic can only do so much before he needs someone around him to also step up in the biggest moments.