{"id":67411,"date":"2025-05-31T03:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/67411\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T03:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:17:09","slug":"northwest-notes-nuggets-jordan-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/67411\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Jordan, Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nuggets are looking to rebuild their depth after losing several key free agents in recent years, such as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope<\/a>, while other signings have proved unsuccessful, like Reggie Jackson<\/a> and Dario Saric<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bennett Durando of the Denver Post<\/a> breaks down some of the potential options they could look at in free agency as they seek to create another title-contending roster.<\/p>\n

The first name Durando looks at is a former Nugget: Bruce Brown<\/a>. Brown left the Nuggets for a two-year balloon deal<\/a> with the Pacers in 2023, and was included in Indiana\u2019s trade for Pascal Siakam<\/a> the following season. He spent this year splitting time between the Raptors and Pelicans, but only played 41 games due to injury. He is still a fan favorite in Denver, Durando writes, and posted about the Nuggets hiring head coach David Adelman on his Instagram story. It\u2019s believed that there is mutual interest between the two parties moving forward.<\/p>\n

Durando also mentions Chris Boucher<\/a>, who the Nuggets looked at<\/a> prior to this year\u2019s trade deadline. Boucher averaged 10 points in 17 minutes for the Raptors this season while shooting 36% from three, and could make for an interesting backup center candidate, a position where the Nuggets desperately need depth.<\/p>\n

Other options mentioned are Tyus Jones<\/a>, Larry Na<\/a>nce<\/a> Jr.<\/a>, Jake LaRavia<\/a>, Dennis Schroder<\/a>, Justin Holiday<\/a>, Jae\u2019Sean Tate<\/a>, Luke Kennard<\/a>, Clint Capela<\/a>, and Mason Plumlee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We have more from around the Northwest Division:<\/p>\n

DeAndre Jordan<\/a>, the Nuggets\u2018 current backup center, took to Instagram to thank Denver fans on the heels of wrapping up his 17th year in the NBA, notes Denver Gazette\u2019s Vinny Benedetto (via Twitter<\/a>). \u201cCan\u2019t say enough how grateful I am for this team, this city, and everyone who supported us along the way. Playing this game never gets old, and doing it with this group made it even more meaningful,\u201d he wrote, before adding \u201cThis isn\u2019t a retirement post!\u201d Jordan is set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer.
\n\u201cThese guys are uncommon,\u201d Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of his team, as reported by The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick<\/a>. Part of that is the youthful exuberance the team approaches everything once the final whistle blows, which Amick likens to a college program. However, there\u2019s nothing playful once the game is going. That ferociousness on the floor, combined with the genuine joy the players appear to feel for each other, marks it as a model of sustainable competitive teambuilding. \u201cIt makes sense. They\u2019re great people first. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so easy to coach this team,\u201d Daigneault said. That\u2019s why Amick believes that this Thunder team is here for the long haul.
\nThere are striking similarities to this Thunder team and the rise of the Warriors dynasty, writes ESPN\u2019s Zach Kram<\/a>. Both teams feature a 26-year-old MVP guard leading a team to nearly 70 wins en route to winning the Western Conference in five games, and both were largely built through shrewd drafting of heady, versatile players who could impact the game on both ends of the floor. For Golden State, that meant adding Klay Thompson<\/a> and Draymond Green<\/a> to Stephen Curry<\/a>\u2018s greatness. For the Thunder, it means pairing Jalen Williams<\/a> and Chet Holmgren<\/a> with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>\u2018s dominance. Both teams added a versatile, dominant defender via trade: the Warriors added Andre Igoudala while the Thunder added Alex Caruso<\/a>, and they both had smart rim protectors who could be taken off the floor when the team wanted to go small (Andrew Bogut and Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>, respectively). The Warriors eventually added Kevin Durant<\/a> to complete the dynasty. While the Thunder might not have that choice, they do have one of the biggest stockpiles of draft assets to trade in the league, so it\u2019s not entirely out of the question. The important part is: both teams were built to last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nuggets are looking to rebuild their depth after losing several key free agents in recent years, such…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6850,10761,984,761,16155,4077,16156,1171,1622,12445,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312,6279],"class_list":{"0":"post-67411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bruce-brown","10":"tag-chris-boucher","11":"tag-clint-capela","12":"tag-deandre-jordan","13":"tag-jaesean-tate","14":"tag-jake-laravia","15":"tag-justin-holiday","16":"tag-luke-kennard","17":"tag-mark-daigneault","18":"tag-mason-plumlee","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-oklahoma","21":"tag-oklahoma-city","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-oklahomacity","24":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","25":"tag-thunder","26":"tag-tyus-jones"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114600283022022497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67411","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=67411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}