Hanifan’s offseason outlook: Evaluating the Denver Nuggets’ 2026 offseason

Denver Nuggets Offseason — (Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry/Getty Images)

The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?! Our offseason outlook series is back for the third-straight year!

Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We will be going in alphabetical order, beginning with the Eastern Conference. However, we are now in the West! Let’s look at the Denver Nuggets’ summer!

Previous offseason outlooks:

Evaluating the Denver Nuggets’ 2026 offseason:

Additions: Marvin Bagley III, DeMar DeRozan, Lonnie Walker, Cam Whitmore

Subtractions: Peyton Watson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Jalen Pickett

Re-signed: Spencer Jones, Tyus Jones

Draft: Trevon Brazile (No. 35 overall), Bryce Hopkins (No. 49)

Hanifan’s outlook: Since defeating the Heat in the 2023 NBA Finals, the Nuggets have finished as seeds Nos. 2, 4 and 3 in the West, respectively. However, while they have tried to retool and reload around Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, Denver hasn’t made it back, getting bounced in the West semis twice and in the first round last year.

At this point, doing whatever is necessary to compete around the aforementioned Jokic is the most important goal. However, they were more limited in the avenues they could have explored this summer. They entered the offseason in the second apron with 11 players rostered. Denver’s brass let Peyton Watson walk out the door after a longwinded restricted free agency, in addition to Hardaway, Brown and Pickett. It even saved $8 million by cutting Jonas Valanciunas, but they were still not able to get below the punitive second apron.

As a result, they are the only team above that threshold as the new season approaches. It’s not like they didn’t add any talent; Denver supplied its core with veterans DeMar DeRozan and Marvin Bagley III. The Nuggets also took flyers on Lonnie Walker and Cam Whitmore, although there is a roadblock for both making the roster.

This summer was a swing-and-a-miss for the Nuggets, though their hands were kind of tied. We’ll see if both Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson can bounce back from their injury-riddled seasons, which would make life much easier for Jokic and Co. moving forward.