A first-round exit is not what anyone in Denver envisioned. This was a team some pundits (*sheepishly raises hand*) picked to go to the Finals before the season, a team that entered the playoffs thinking the same thing. Instead, the physicality of the Minnesota matched Denver, the Timberwolves showed more scoring versatility, and that sent the Nuggets packing in the first round.
Now what?
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Nuggets president Josh Kroenke (son of owner Stan Kroenke) said everything is on the table — except trading Nikola Jokic or moving on from coach David Adelman.
Here is what Kronke said in his postseason press conference, via Bennett Durando of the Denver Post.
“I don’t want to be masked in my frustration for how the season ended,” Kroenke said. “I think that anybody that was a fan of the Denver Nuggets should be frustrated. And anything that a fan feels, I probably feel a thousand X. So I think everything is gonna be on the table, outside of trading Nikola…
“If we deem running it back the most competitive thing we can do for the roster, that’s probably what we’re going to be doing,” Kroenke said Friday. “So I don’t want to put words in my dad’s mouth by any means, but he has owned the team for a very long time. We’ve run it aggressively as we can at different points in time. I think that the joke is always, we love to pay for talent on the floor. So leaning into that assessment that people have put on us at different points in time, if we deem that’s the most competitive thing for us, then that’s what we’re gonna be doing.”
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Kroenke and the Nuggets have some difficult decisions to make this offseason.
The easy one is extending Jokic — he is eligible, he gets the max, and he has said he wants to be a Nugget “forever.” The other thing that is locked in is that, despite a rough showing in the playoffs, coach David Adelman will be back.
“I have full faith in Coach Adelman,” Kroenke said. “I think he coached a hell of a season, all things considered.”
After that, it becomes a question of money and priorities. Peyton Watson had a breakout season, and his value on both ends of the court was evident in his absence during the playoffs (he was out with a hamstring injury). He is also a restricted free agent that a number of teams are eyeing as someone they can poach. With Jokic and Jamal Murray already with max contracts, new extensions for Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun kicking in, re-signing Watson likely means going into the second apron — something the Nuggets have not done (and only one team lived in that space this season, Cleveland).
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Which means look for Denver to trade another starter, maybe Braun or Cameron Johnson, something league sources had told NBC Sports and echoed to Durando for his Denver Post story.
One way or another, changes are coming to Denver. Just not to Jokic or Adelman.
