NFL
By: Jason Gulden
After a disappointing finish to their season last year, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Conference Semi-finals in seven games, the Denver Nuggets are excited to get things going for their 2025-2026 season Thursday night when they travel to take on the Golden State Warriors.
There were many changes on the team from the last time the Denver Nuggets took the court. First time in 10 years they will have a new head coach leading the team. With three games remaining in the regular season last year, previous coach Michael Malone was fired, and new head coach David Adelman took over. This will be the first opening day and first full season Adelman has been a head coach in the NBA.
Nuggets also have a new team running the front office than last season. Last season, Calvin Booth was also fired, the same day as Malone, after being the General Manager for the Nuggets since July of 2020. This year, we have co-leadership running the team. Ben Tenzer (right) will be the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Jonathan Wallace will be the Executive Vice President of Player Personnel.
With all this turnover in the front office, unfortunately, there were some players from last year’s team who moved on and are no longer with the team this season. Russell Westbrook has moved on to the Sacramento Kings. DeAndre Jordan is currently a free agent. The big loss for the Nuggets this offseason was Michael Porter Jr. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason.
With all the moves the Nuggets made by subtracting players, they added players to make this year’s team, on paper, look very good with depth compared to last year.
Taking Porter’s spot on the roster and in the starting lineup is Cam Johnson. He arrived from Brooklyn in the Michael Porter Jr trade. Last season, Cam Johnson averaged a career high of 18.8 pts per game.
Tim Hardaway Jr, son of former NBA star Tim Hardaway, was signed to a 1-year deal on July 10th. Last year with the Detroit Pistons, he averaged 11 points per game in a starting role with them. The last time he mainly came off the bench, like he will be this season, was the 2023-2024 season when he was with the Dallas Mavericks. That season, he averaged 14.4 points and finished 9th in the 6th man Award.
One of our BIG pick-ups this offseason, and I’m not talking about size, was Jonas Valančiūnas. Last year, he averaged 10.4 points per game with the Washington Wizards and the Sacramento Kings. His game will benefit the Nuggets this season as they will be able to give their superstar Nikola Jokic some more rest instead of a couple of minutes a game. Let’s hope that when Jokic is on the bench, the Nuggets aren’t worried about the non-Jokic minutes like they were in years past.
The Nuggets this offseason didn’t have a pick in the NBA draft in June, but in a sense, we had a pick. That’s cause DeRon Holmes II, our first-round pick from the 2024 Draft, will finally be able to make his debut on the Nuggets after missing the 2024-2025 season with a Torn Achilles that he suffered at the end of his first-ever Summer League game last summer. With the strange rule in the NBA, Holmes III is considered a rookie this season.
With all the moves the Nuggets made this offseason, the one player we are glad is back would be none other than Bruce Brown. He was part of the bench when the Denver Nuggets won their only NBA Championship during the 2022-2023 season. That year, he averaged 11.5 points off the bench. Unfortunately, following that season, the Nuggets were unable to sign him due to restrictions that the Nuggets fell under in the NBA Labor deal. I, along with Nuggets fans around the world, am excited to have Bruce Brown back in the blue and gold.
With those players along with the core players (Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, and 3-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic) and supporting cast of (Zeke Nnaji, Jalen Pickett, Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson and Peyton Wayton) this Nuggets team looks like they are primed to return to the promise land and bring the 2nd NBA Championship to Denver, Colorado. Will that happen this year? Only time will tell, and all the action gets going for the Nuggets on Thursday Night, October 23rd.
Well, Nuggets fans around the world, that’s the look ahead to the 2025-2026 season. I will be back to recap the games once a week during the season. Look forward to bringing you Denver Nuggets action this season. Until next time, GO Nuggets!!!!
