Nuggets given brutal offseason grade for their moves thus far
The Athletic handed out NBA offseason grades thus far and the Nuggets didn't receive a pretty one; their 'D-' is last in the league
Watch: Nuggets future hinges on tax bill—will they make a trade to subvert the tax even if they're winning? | 1 min
The Denver Nuggets offseason still isn’t finished.
The future of restricted free agent Peyton Watson remains up in the air and Spencer Jones may or may not be back. Plus, the carrot that is LeBron James is dangling out there for all NBA teams.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Nuggets remain a “finalist” for James, but the consensus seems to be they trail teams like the Cavaliers, Warriors, Heat and 76ers for his services.
So while Denver’s roster is getting close to finished, a few questions remain.
That didn’t stop The Athletic’s NBA staff from handing out offseason grades thus far and the Nuggets didn’t receive a pretty one. In fact, their “D-” is last in the league, ahead of a few other teams who got an “incomplete.”
Do you agree with your NBA team's offseason grade?
Our writers analyzed each franchise on its summer moves thus far, from coaching hires to player acquisition (with one LeBron-sized domino still to fall): https://t.co/hQ4W4BTCAy pic.twitter.com/lsYyUl2lTo
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 13, 2026
“If they end up keeping Peyton Watson, it’ll probably be a C. But this team is replacing Jonas Valančiūnas with Marvin Bagley III, and the Nuggets don’t have a replacement for Tim Hardaway Jr. For now, they’re back to having depth issues,” Zach Harper wrote.
That’s why it’s strange the Nuggets received a “D-” while the Cavaliers, Pelicans and Raptors were graded with an incomplete. It seems like Denver could’ve been in that category.
Still, Harper raises valid issues. Bagley is a former top pick who hasn’t met expectations. Hardaway bolted for Miami and there doesn’t seem to be a clear plan to replace him.
The Nuggets added a couple second-round picks, a former EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year and brought back Tyus Jones, but none of that is going to move the needle.
Team owner Josh Kroenke said anyone but Nikola Jokic could be traded, but that’s yet to materialize. Maybe something big is coming with Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Cameron Johnson or Christian Braun — we’ll see.
In the meantime the Nuggets are in a precarious salary cap situation and Jokic is now kicking the can down the road on waiting to sign a massive contract extension until next summer.
Add all that up and Denver nearly earned a failing grade from The Athletic.
To read the full marks, click here.
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Comments
1 Comments
The Athletic is entitled to their opinion by assigning a "D-" to the Nuggets for their team-building moves this offseason. However, I checked the calendar and it says all NBA teams have 3+ months to build their rosters before they play their first game of the new season! Further, the NBA allows teams to another six months to complete their roster building before the deadline in February 2027! Clearly, The Athletic is not only premature for handing out grades at this early stage of team-building, but are dilsional if they think their "fantasy" grades are somehow going to influence the teams to change their timeline for completing their roster building process. In the Nuggets case The Athletic writer is premature in his evaluation due to the following unknowns on who will be on this roster:
1. Peyton Watson: The Nuggets' position that they will either sign Watson to a new contract or they will sign and trade him for two first rounders and swaps on two additional first rounders - a bit of "fantasy" by the Nuggers on the latter - would be a very good result for the Nuggets no matter which outcome plays out.
2. One Or More of The Four Starters is/are likely to Go: Ownership appears to be moving in this direction to reduce (not avoid) as much as possible the excess luxury taxes they expect to pay. So one or more of Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, Cam Johnson, and perhaps Christian Braun will be playing for another team next season. This outcome could have a huge impact on this team's roster. Again, very premature grade by The Athletic.
3. The Nuggets added to their bench depth by adding the big in Marvin Bagley III to provide better back-up minutes to Jokic than did Big Val. He can also provide rim protection from the bench - something the Nuggets desperately need. Personally I thought Big Val should have been kept. Unfortunately Val did not play as well as he can and for some strange reason Adelman chose not to play him. In addtion, the Nuggets added the EuroLeague's "Defender of The Year" in Alpha Diallo - granted he has not played a minute in the NBA, but this is a significant addition since the Nuggets sorely need better defense. The one missing piece on the bench that still needs to be solved is to replace Tim Hardaway's 3-point contributions. But I just checked the calendar and it is 3 plus months away from the Nuggets playing their first regular season game! Let's see what develops on this position.
The Athletic needs a reality check. No one gave them the right to give out ridiculous grades to teams for their team building efforts - as each team has months left to finish building their rosters before game 1 of their respective seasons. Also, the NBA (not The Athletic) allows all teams until the ealy part of 2027 to finish building their team rosters! Yes The Athletic is silly for handing out grades so prematurely!