With the loss to the Timberwolves in game 7 last night the defending champions are knocked out of the playoffs. Let see how their offseason is shaping up.
Cap Space
Contracts
Draft Picks
1st Round
Bit confusing at a glance but basically their 2025 pick is going to Orlando unless by some miracle they get a top 5 at which point Orlando would get the next pick that isn’t in the top 5 unless they’re that bad thorugh 2027. Assuming that doesn’t happen they will then have their own 2026 pick.
2 years after the Orlando pick conveys (so likely in 2027) they will owe their pick to OKC if it’s not in the top 5. After it conveys they have no more obligations as far as 1st round draft picks.
In short they will likely have 2026 and 2028 onward available with Orlando getting the 2025 and OKC getting the 2027.
2nd round
Outlook
Even with it being in a tough game 7 loss to what could likely be the champions, losing in the 2nd round will give the Nuggets some questions going into the offseason.
Looking at the bright side, the Timberwolves are a team that was uniquely built by their former President of Basketball Operations to counter Jokic and the Nuggets. There aren’t any other teams in the league really that can play 3 bigs on Jokic for a whole series and they just had the misfortune of playing them in the 2nd round. The downside is that the Timberwolves are in their division so there really isn’t a way to escape them (with the possible exception of expansion pushing them east). So the Nuggets will have to see if they can retool this offseason to add some better depth to help them compete in what will likely be a big rivalry going forward between the 2 teams.
The Nuggets will enter this offseason over the cap. The 2 major contract decisions will be player options by KCP and Reggie Jackson, both will likely decline and look for more money than their current option. KCP has been a key starter for the Nuggets and they have his bird rights so will likely be able to retain him.
The Nuggets will have the 28th and 56th picks in this draft. They also should be able to offer swaps of most of their future picks since they have only traded 2 (see draft picks above). Jokic and Murray aren’t going to be on the trade block. Gordon and MPJ were a bit disappointing in game 7 but are also unlikely to be traded. Gordon is an amazing fit with Jokic and played very well most of the postseason. MPJ they will likely hope continues to improve since he is still only 25. While he shot bad against the Wolves he had a great series against the Lakers and had his healthiest regular season this year.
What was a major difference going up against the Timberwolves was the benches. The Wolves were able to put 6MOY Naz Reid on Jokic when KAT went out. In comparison the only player that Malone really trusted by the end of the series was Braun, who while played good defense isn’t an offensive threat yet. Jackson and Holiday played some minutes and had some decent spurts but overall weren’t able to do much to help and both will be free agents this offseason. Watson has showed promise on the defensive end but struggles offensively and like Braun was only a 2nd year player this postseason.
Losing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green was often talked about this year as a reason the Nuggets looked a bit more beatable and it ended up being a big reason they got knocked out. They will hopefully look to improve their depth this offseason and come back next year ready to compete for a title again.
Porter Jr is a spot up 3pt shooter and no more. He will continue to kill their team both in play style and salary cap until he slips back into role playing. He’s trying to pretend he’s a superstar and “look for his shot”, it doesn’t work when you don’t have what it takes to perform in the playoffs. Didn’t see him get one steal despite his size and being taller than most players guarding him. It’s great you can hit 45% during the season but doesn’t mean shit if your 15% in playoffs.
Gordon should be making Porter money, Porter should be making Reggie Jackson money.
Naz Reid just earned himself a lot of playing time, a contract and maybe a ring with that series. Performed repeatedly in the clutch, defense AND offense, just wildly impactful.
Predict a big year for Murray next year going into UFA, but shit, they gotta deal with Porter and that wasted cap space.
Yeah MPJ I will say feels like the starter that is most likely to be traded. He’s improved in other areas but like you said still doesn’t bring enough if his shot isn’t hitting to justify the max contract. Gordon is definitely the 3rd most important guy on the team.
They have the picks to tie in with him if they want to go for a 3rd star but that route feels difficult with them getting close to the 2nd apron which is why I think they’ll focus on upgrading the bench and likely move Nanji since he’s getting paid almost $9M to do nothing.