Season Wrap: The 2024-25 Denver Nuggets

  • By Keston Paul

    The Nuggets ownership essentially said, “We’re done.”

    Head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth both got the axe with three games left in the regular season and while all of the reasons were not disclosed, it seems Malone and Booth had a terrible working relationship. That does not fully explain why Malone was fired, but there were also rumors about discontent with some of his rotations as well.

    How’d It Go?

    The Nuggets finished with a 50-32 record and the No. 4 seed in the West.

    They started the season 11-10 and were therefore in a Play-In spot a week into December, but by January 1, they were 19-13 and the No. 4 seed in the West so there wasn’t any need to overreact to their start. They hung out around the No. 2 to No. 5 seed in the West the rest of the way, so again, there isn’t a special story there.

    More interesting is the extreme workload that Nikola Jokic and the core players had to carry as another poor offseason meant that the team’s depth was not replenished. After losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Magic in free agency, a year after losing Bruce Brown, the Nuggets were once again unable to add talent. Turning Reggie Jackson into Russell Westbrook was an upgrade, while their No. 22 pick DaRon Holmes II suffered a right Achilles tear in his Summer League debut, so his absence from the rotation was out of their control. However, after using the taxpayer mid-level exception (TMLE) on Jackson and needing to give up assets to get rid of his contract, the Nuggets used the TMLE on Dario Saric in the 2024 offseason, and it proved to be disastrous as he was viewed as unplayable before the end of November. Tyus Jones and Gary Trent Jr. are names that signed to vet minimums, and despite playing different positions and wanting starting roles, it feels odd that the Nuggets could not attract anything better to put around Jokic. The same Jokic who got Brown and KCP big paydays after their contributions to winning alongside him. Any extra playable talent would have been a plus for Denver.

    General manager Calvin Booth and head coach Michael Malone being at odds is understandable when you consider some of those moves, but whether we agree with Malone also being fired or not doesn’t really matter. David Adelman took over as the interim head coach and actually did a wonderful job of stabilizing a situation that could have spiraled out of control. Despite being the No. 4 seed, they were viewed as the underdogs in their first-round playoff series and overcame the No. 5 seeded Clippers in a seven-game series. They then pushed the 68-win Thunder to seven games before their season ended, while battling injuries to Michael Porter Jr. and then Aaron Gordon while already lacking reliable depth outside of their core six players.

    Coaching

    Michael Malone was fired on April 8 and according to Shams Charania of ESPN, it was tied for the latest coaching change in NBA history. Malone was with the Nuggets for 10 seasons, holding a 471-327 record (including 47-32 in 2024-25) and of course, leading them to an NBA title in 2023. Shams cited the “cold war” between HC Malone and GM Calvin Booth (who was fired on the same day) as one of the issues that was likely going to lead to a change in the offseason. However, with a four-game losing streak and a negative atmosphere, the Nuggets’ ownership decided to clear house in an attempt to “flip the culture” and “inject some life going into the playoffs.”

    Since most of the regular season was under the guidance of Malone, the team’s season-long offensive rating of 118.9 (4th), defensive rating of 115.1 (21st) and net rating of 3.8 (9th) can be viewed as his responsibility. As a comparison, in 2023-24 they had an offensive rating of 117.8 (5th), defensive rating of 112.3 (8th) and a net rating of 5.5 (4th). Basically, the defense was a lot worse this season.

    David Adelman took over as the interim head coach and finished out the regular season 3-0 before overcoming the Clippers in a seven-game series and then losing to the No. 1 seeded Thunder in seven. There wasn’t time to put his own imprint on the team but Adelman held his own in the playoffs, notably throwing out zone looks against the Thunder to hide Nikola Jokic on the defensive end since he was being exploited in traditional pick-and-roll coverages. The zone coverages were initially successful at stymying the Thunder but the Nuggets were out of options when it was figured out.

    On May 22, Adelman was fully given the reins and instated as the franchise’s next full-time head coach. The Nuggets’ problems obviously go beyond coaching and it will take a joint effort from Adelman and whoever is named as the new general manager to get the 2023 champions back on track. Perhaps some of Malone’s behaviour led the Nuggets to believe that it would be difficult to land him on the same page with a new GM. While Malone is passionate, fiery and demonstrative, Adelman seems to be a lot more reserved, calm and thoughtful. Both personality types have their strengths and weaknesses as a coach, and obviously Malone was able to lead the team to a title, but perhaps things got stale and a different leadership style was needed.

    The Players

    Nikola Jokić
    C, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    24-25 DEN 70 70 36.7 11.2 19.5 57.6 5.2 6.4 80.0 2.0 4.7 41.7 29.6 12.7 10.2 1.8 0.6 3.3
    23-24 DEN 79 79 34.6 10.4 17.9 58.3 4.5 5.5 81.7 1.1 2.9 35.9 26.4 12.4 9.0 1.4 0.9 3.0
    22-23 DEN 69 69 33.7 9.4 14.8 63.2 4.9 6.0 82.2 0.8 2.2 38.3 24.5 11.8 9.8 1.3 0.7 3.6

    ADP: 2.3/1.7 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 1/2 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 1/1 (8/9-cat)

    Even before extreme circumstances ended Victor Wembanyama’s season, Jokic was turning the “Wemby will break fantasy” narrative on its head. You can perhaps point to the Joker’s career-high 36.7 MPG to say, “Well, he just had more volume!” However, Jokic’s .627 eFG% was the second-highest of his career, likely boosted by a career-high .417 3PT% on a career-high 4.7 attempts per game. What other areas did he record personal bests in you might ask? Field-goal attempts, free-throw attempts, points (naturally), assists and steals. You might be disappointed to know that the rebounding average was only the second-most of his career. Despite the insane offensive workload as well, he only recorded the third-most turnovers per game of his career. The one stat I did not mention was Jokic’s 0.6 blocks per game, since that was tied for the lowest of his career. No one is perfect I suppose.

    The other blip is that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander beat him out on total value since he played 76 games to Jokic’s 70. Jokic also missed five consecutive games from March 17 to March 24 with some combination of left ankle and right elbow injuries (the left ankle impingement/sprain seemed like the more serious one). That absence would have happened in the fantasy playoffs and most managers with Jokic would have likely lost if their opponent wasn’t missing multiple players too. He also sat out a game on April 2, so if your playoffs ended late it was tough sledding.

    Jamal Murray
    PG, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    24-25 DEN 67 67 36.1 7.9 16.7 47.4 3.3 3.7 88.6 2.3 5.9 39.3 21.4 3.9 6.0 1.4 0.5 2.1
    23-24 DEN 59 59 31.5 8.0 16.7 48.1 2.7 3.1 85.3 2.5 5.8 42.5 21.2 4.1 6.5 1.0 0.7 2.1
    22-23 DEN 65 65 32.8 7.3 16.0 45.4 2.8 3.3 83.3 2.6 6.6 39.8 20.0 4.0 6.2 1.0 0.2 2.2

    ADP: 53.0/47.1 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 30/27 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 24/18 (8/9-cat)

    Murray quietly ascended the ranks after another poor start to a season in 2024-25. By November 25, Murray had a .402 FG% and .782 FT%, and was the No. 81 per-game performer across his first 13 games for both 9-cat and 8-cat. He was playing 35.6 MPG so his volume across multiple areas was able to make him a good producer. His percentages began to improve around that point, but there were still some stretches of poor shooting, which are expected throughout a season for a jump shooter. By January 12, he held a .435 FG% and .845 FT% in 32 games of action. One positive is that Murray did not really have extensive injury absences this season, only missing two or three games here and there. That is, until a six-game absence from March 28 to April 9 with right hamstring inflammation. Hopefully your fantasy leagues were already decided by then.

    The .474 FG% Murray ended the season with ranks third among his eight years in the NBA and his .886 FT% ranks second, so his percentages recovered very well during the season. His 1.4 steals per game were a career-high and 0.5 blocks per game would be second across his career. The defensive stats are likely where his per-game ranks were boosted alongside a career-high 21.4 PPG to propel Murray to his best-ever fantasy finish via both totals and per-game value.

    Want access to the rest of this Season Wrap? You’ll need to have a FANTASYPASS membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! 

    Premium Access Required:

    June 17, 2025, 12:05 am