Rams<\/a> Podcast, Roddy gave some perspective on his big weekend, as well as how rewarding it felt after grinding behind the scenes these past few years in pursuit of his NBA dreams.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThis past weekend was a lot of fun,\u201d Roddy said. \u201cA lot of work has been put in over the last few years for an opportunity like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"USATSI]()
Apr 10, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets forward David Roddy (45) shoots the ball in the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
A 2022 first-round pick, Roddy initially landed with the Memphis Grizzlies after a standout collegiate career at Colorado State. He was the 2021-22 Mountain West Player of the Year as a junior and helped guide CSU to its highest NCAA Tournament seeding in school history in the process (6-seed).\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a rookie in the 2022-23 campaign, Roddy played in 70 games for the Grizzlies and averaged 7.5 points while playing about 20 minutes per game. Since his first year in the NBA, the former CSU star has struggled to find a stable spot in the league though. After initially getting traded to Phoenix in 2024, Roddy has spent time with Atlanta, Houston and Philadelphia, before most recently getting one run with the G League affiliate for the Toronto Raptors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On March 4th, the Nuggets signed Roddy to a two-way contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, bringing the versatile hoopster back to the state he made a name for himself in during his college days. It wasn\u2019t exactly the path that he expected to get here, but he knew that this would be a valuable opportunity for him with a winning organization. In fact, after working out for the Nuggets during the pre-draft process, Denver has been a destination he\u2019s long envisioned as a good fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that once I got called up to Denver, that I\u2019d have an opportunity to play, whether that would be the next night on a back-to-back, or it would be the second-to-last and the last games,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I just knew that I needed to prepare my mind, to prepare my body. And again, it was just such fun basketball to play. You know, the Nuggets, they already play an unselfish brand of basketball, and everyone\u2019s touching it, everyone\u2019s confident, everyone\u2019s aggressive. So, man, I really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
While this weekend was validating on a lot of levels, it would be easy to be bitter about some of the circumstances he\u2019s been dealt in his professional career. Roddy has what it takes to be an impactful player in a rotation and he showed that with how he produced for the Nuggets, yet this season he only played in five games outside of the G League. And had he not been picked up by Denver, that number very easily could have been zero. <\/p>\n
Even so, Roddy isn\u2019t leaning into the mindset of \u2018woe is me\u2019. He told DNVR that he has made peace with the past couple of seasons and has genuinely learned a lot about himself through the journey. What\u2019s been beneficial about that perspective is that it allows him to just go out on the court and enjoy playing basketball. Obviously there was a lot at stake for him in this stint with the Nuggets, but he\u2019s learned over the years that very little about this process is in his control. So it\u2019s best to just stay in the moment, play freely and do what he can to help his team win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing I learned through my time in the G League this season, is just to stay in the moment and stay present,\u201d Roddy said. \u201cJust focus on the work that\u2019s ahead, and then everything else will come after that. So I carry that same mentality into, you know, being a Denver Nugget and playing in the play groups with the coaches and the other guys, as well as just watching and observing. All of those lessons that I\u2019ve learned, they showed. And hopefully it showed my maturity and showed my growth in those last two games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked what he\u2019s gained the most from his time with the Nuggets, Roddy smiled and said that he just now has an ever greater appreciation for the team. He has been watching the guys from afar since his time in Fort Collins and certainly knew they were a talented group. But being up and close to it and getting to truly experience what it\u2019s like to play with Nikola Joki\u0107, Jamal Murray, etc, it\u2019s been cool for him to see how dynamic the offense truly is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a part of it, it\u2019s just super easy,\u201d he said. \u201cI would say that it\u2019s super easy to play with Joki\u0107. It\u2019s super easy to play with Jamal, with \u2018AG\u2019, with all of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"USATSI]()
Mar 17, 2022; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Colorado State Rams guard David Roddy (21) high-fives teammates as he walks down the bench in the game against the Michigan Wolverines in the second half during the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n
In terms of what he\u2019s discovered about himself through the highs and lows of his NBA career, Roddy feels that learning what it really means to be a professional has been one of the more rewarding experiences of his life. It\u2019s one thing to call yourself a pro. But it\u2019s a whole different process to actually be a pro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super easy to say, but it\u2019s super hard to actually understand and listen and learn, until you go through some experiences in the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roddy continued, explaining that jumping from team to team every three to six months has taught him it\u2019s not always a personal thing. Unfortunately, sometimes it\u2019s just a matter of business. And in those scenarios it\u2019s on him to stay focused and committed to the vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to continue to stay about your work,\u201d he said. \u201cCan you continue to stay focused on the things that got you to that point and will hopefully keep you in the league? So that\u2019s your hard work being a good teammate, just being a good person in general, being someone who is enjoyable to be around.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of those things fully encompass being a pro. And then the next time you get your opportunity, you better take advantage of it and really have that freedom, because you know you\u2019ve prepared for this moment for so many years. I would say it\u2019s definitely very rewarding, but also a very trying time of being a pro. But again, I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything just because I know who I am now, as a human and as an athlete, it\u2019s light years ahead of what I was even two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"USATSI]()
Apr 1, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Denver Nuggets forward David Roddy (45) shoots the ball during the second half against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Next season\u2019s location is still up in the air at this point. And as of now, Roddy won\u2019t be eligible for postseason play on his current two-way deal. But after really standing out in a couple of big wins for the Nuggets, a smart team should be able to optimize his potential in the future. Perhaps even the one right here in Denver. <\/p>\n
Roddy might not be the type of star in the league that he was for Niko Medved and the Rams, but he has the IQ, toughness and the versatility to provide a role for the right team. Plus, perhaps more important than anything, the 6-foot-5 forward has the right mindset.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI think my role, just with any team, is to impact winning,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got guys like Jamal, you\u2019ve got guys like Nikola, like AG, Cam, you know, all of those guys have their role. And then for me, as a guy coming off of the bench, or you know the last two games, it was really just to impact winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he sees it, it doesn\u2019t matter if he needs to get an offensive rebound, guard the opposing team\u2019s best player, or just box someone out really hard. Roddy knows he\u2019s going to be expected to do the dirty work and that\u2019s something he embraces. Just using his physicality and strength to impact the game.\u00a0The thing is, if you don\u2019t close out on his jump shot or give him too much space on the drive, as we saw this past weekend, Roddy can burn you with the finesse game as well. He\u2019s a competent 3-point shooter and a solid passer. There\u2019s far more to his game than maybe meets the eye at first glance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo the dirty work, make the right pass, just get guys open and kind of make sure everyone\u2019s on the right track. I think that\u2019s really what my role will be, I hope,\u201d Roddy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust using my physicality and just using anything that I can to impact winning. So hit a corner three, hit an open shot, attack, closeouts and kind of go from there. So my role is just to be a good basketball player to be honest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This iteration of Nuggets basketball was built on the mentality of refusing to skip steps. Nobody fits that description more appropriately than David Roddy.\u00a0Seeing him make the most of this opportunity in Denver has been one of the cooler storylines of the season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being a pro is about a lot more than just skill.\u00a0 It\u2019s not defined by individual glory, or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-711812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116414894146582904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711812","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=711812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}