Hanifan's Offseason Outlook: Evaluating the Denver Nuggets' 2025 offseason

Denver Nuggets Offseason — (Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images)

For our second annual offseason outlook series, Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We have already completed the Eastern Conference, so we will proceed in alphabetical order with the West before capping it all off with the Miami Heat. Today, we will be evaluating the Denver Nuggets’ offseason.

Past Previews:

Sept. 1: Atlanta Hawks
Sept. 2: Boston Ce l tics
Sept. 3: Brooklyn Nets
Sept. 4: Charlotte Hornets
Sept. 5: Chicago Bulls
Sept. 6: Cleveland Cavaliers
Sept. 7: Detroit Pistons
Sept. 8: Indiana Pacers
Sept. 9: Milwaukee Bucks
Sept. 10: New York Knicks
Sept. 11: Orlando Magic
Sept. 12: Philadelphia 76ers
Sept. 13: Toronto Raptors
Sept. 14: Washington Wizards
Sept. 15: Dallas Mavericks

Evaluating the Denver Nuggets’ 2025 offseason:

Additions: Bruce Brown Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., Cameron Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas, Moses Brown

Subtractions: Michael Porter Jr., Dario Saric, P.J. Hall, Russell Westbrook (free agent), Vlatko Cancar (free agent), De’Andre Jordan (free agent)

Re-signed: N/A

Draft: N/A

Hanifan’s outlook: The Nuggets, led by three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, gave the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder and run for their money in the Western Conference semifinals. The most impressive part was that it all came with rookie head coach David Adelman on the sidelines — weeks after getting the job.

Led by first-year general manager Ben Tenzer, Denver had one of the best offseasons in the NBA.

For one, they dumped Michael Porter Jr.’s sizable contract and acquired Cam Johnson — effectively saving $17 million on their books (for his upcoming season). Johnson is the better player; he’s a better connective passer, on- and off-ball defender, while being as good a shooter, albeit three inches shorter.

The Nuggets also addressed their backup big situation by trading essentially nothing for Jonas Valanciunas. Even though the 6-foot-10 big is entering his age-33 season, he’s still quite productive and impactful (offensively) in 15-20 minutes per night. He’s a definite upgrade over DeAndre Jordan.

Also … Bruce Brown is back! We saw him play his best basketball alongside Jokic in 2022-23. But his two-way impact dipped precipitously in Indiana and Toronto. He did what was best for him at the time (money), though it’s objectively cool to see the seven-year veteran reunited with the best player on the planet.

Given the Nuggets’ financial constraints entering the summer, they did a phenomenal job.