{"id":252350,"date":"2025-08-26T21:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/252350\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T21:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:17:14","slug":"nuggets-earn-top-tier-offseason-ranking-after-roster-retooling-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/252350\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets earn top-tier offseason ranking after roster retooling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nuggets earn top-tier offseason ranking after roster retooling<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a><\/p>\n

The Denver Nuggets made a huge swing this offseason after falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.<\/p>\n

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Following a thrilling seven-game series loss to Oklahoma City, the Nuggets got back to work retooling their roster for another deep playoff run behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Denver moved on from Michael Porter Jr. and its 2032 first-round pick in exchange for three-and-D wing Cameron Johnson, who is coming off a career-best year with the Brooklyn Nets. The front office also made smart moves in free agency, signing Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Nuggets addressed a key rotational need by trading for Jonas Valanciunas to back up Jokic. While the West remains loaded with talent, Denver appears poised to be a top contender once again after its productive offseason.<\/p>\n

Nuggets ranks top 3 in offseason evaluation<\/p>\n

David Aldridge of The Athletic recently put together a ranking of every team’s offseason moves, placing Denver at No. 3.<\/p>\n

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“Getting Johnson at almost half the cost of Porter enabled Denver to bring back Brown, a key contributor to the ’23 title team,\u201d Aldridge wrote<\/a>. \u201cAdding Valanciunas and Hardaway for very little were master strokes.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0NBA writer links ex-Nugget Russell Westbrook to Eastern Conference contender<\/a><\/p>\n

The Nuggets were ultimately unable to compete with the Thunder’s extensive depth in the postseason. However, they added several rotation pieces and a starter in Johnson, who should all drastically improve the team’s playoff outlook.<\/p>\n

Even after parting with former head coach Michael Malone, Denver’s offseason moves earned high marks. The Nuggets were already a serious threat to the Thunder before these additions, and the retooled roster makes them an even bigger contender in a stacked Western Conference.<\/p>\n

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With Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Johnson leading the way, plus a strengthened second unit, the Nuggets have a sky-high ceiling in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

MORE NBA NEWS:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nuggets earn top-tier offseason ranking after roster retooling originally appeared on The Sporting News The Denver Nuggets made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[877,7,247,6850,2726,561,17106,187,762,6890,562,6,253,33338,310,475,179,3966,3965,254,1415,312,759],"class_list":{"0":"post-252350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-bruce-brown","12":"tag-cameron-johnson","13":"tag-christian-braun","14":"tag-david-aldridge","15":"tag-denver-nuggets","16":"tag-jamal-murray","17":"tag-jonas-valanciunas","18":"tag-michael-porter-jr","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nikola-jokic","21":"tag-offseason-moves","22":"tag-oklahoma","23":"tag-oklahoma-city","24":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","25":"tag-oklahomacity","26":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","27":"tag-russell-westbrook","28":"tag-the-nuggets","29":"tag-thunder","30":"tag-tim-hardaway"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115097150815921796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}