Season Wrap: The 2025-26 Denver Nuggets

  • By Keston Paul

    Last Updated on May 26, 2026 12:19 am by Keston Paul | Published: May 26, 2026

    After the Nuggets fired then-Head Coach Michael Malone and General Manager Calvin Booth right before the end of the 2024-25 regular season, we saw David Adelman take over as interim head coach for three regular-season games and two playoff series, eventually being rewarded with the full-time position in the 2025 offseason. Ben Tenzer, the Executive Vice President of Operations, and Jon Wallace, the Executive Vice President of Player Personnel, both began serving as the team’s decision-makers. That led to some offseason roster reshaping to get us where we are today.

    How’d It Go?

    Here is how it began:

    The significance of this trade was also the fact that Johnson’s contract was smaller than Porter’s, giving the Nuggets more room to operate on the margins. They traded for Jonas Valanciunas — a hopefully effective backup center — while signing Tim Hardaway Jr. and bringing back Bruce Brown in free agency a couple of seasons after his departure. Suddenly, the Nuggets seemed to have more depth than they had in a long time, arguably even the most that they have had in the 2020s. At least, that was how it felt before games tipped off.

    The regular season was mostly business as usual: the Nuggets secured the rights to host a first-round series as the No. 3 seed in the West. However, they did deal with injuries and some underperforming players, while Peyton Watson had a breakout and Spencer Jones — who went undrafted in 2024 and was on a two-way contract — showed that he belongs in the NBA. Jamal Murray had his best-ever regular season, becoming a first-time All-Star (and All-NBA Third Team member), and while Nikola Jokic dealt with a hyperextended knee and bone bruise, he still had an immense statistical season, finishing second in the MVP race.

    In the playoffs, things quickly unraveled. While it was already known that the Wolves matched up well with the Nuggets, the circumstances of their defeat were ugly in the first round. The Nuggets took Game 1, but then rattled off three straight losses, including the 43 points conceded to Ayo Dosunmu in Game 4, during which Donte DiVincenzo tore his Achilles and Anthony Edwards hyperextended his left knee. The Nuggets “got the job done” in Game 5, climbing back to 2-3, but then, in Game 6, with Dosunmu also sidelined alongside Edwards (and DDV), Terrence Shannon Jr. and Jaden McDaniels roasted their defense to complete a 4-2 series victory against the odds. McDaniels had infamously(?) critiqued the Nuggets’ defense after Game 2, and then doing what he did in the series — dominating Game 6 and making Murray’s life tough throughout the six games — it seems like McDaniels’ words are the lasting narrative hanging over the Nuggets’ failure. Of course, Rudy Gobert also did a good job of stonewalling Jokic, too.

    After the disappointing loss, it was reported that “everyone on the roster besides Jokic will be available in trade talks.” So, we will have to see what the 2026 offseason holds for the Nuggets.

    Coaching

    David Adelman coached three games and two playoff series at the end of the 2024-25 season as an interim, but became the full-time head coach in the 2025-26 offseason. As far as personalities go, he seems almost the polar opposite to the prior head coach, Mike Malone, who was known for his intensity and outbursts. Adelman would have his moments of frustration during games of course, as anyone would expect, but he is clearly a lot more mild-mannered.

    There is no one-size-fits-all way to coach, so we can look back at the season as a whole rather than focusing on narratives. Via NBA.com, the Nuggets had the No. 1 offensive rating in the regular season (121.2), the No. 21 defensive rating (116.0) and the No. 7 net rating (plus-5.2). For pace, they were No. 20 (99.49). Another intriguing team stat is that the Nuggets were dead-last in points off turnovers (14.0).

    Defensively, they conceded the 10th-fewest points off turnovers (17.0) and fifth-fewest second-chance points (13.7), but they were No. 17 in fast-break points conceded per game (15.5). For points in the paint, they had the 14th-best margin, conceding 50.2 per game. We already know that Jokic isn’t the best rim protector and that the Nuggets were missing two of their better defenders — Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson — for chunks of the season. Christian Braun and Cam Johnson also missed significant time.

    There were also a lot of conversations and comparisons between Adelman’s and Malone’s leadership or coaching styles after Adelman addressed a question about the team’s fighting spirit, but at least for now, we have confirmation that Adelman will be returning as head coach in 2026-27.

    Still, he could be on the hot seat next season if the results aren’t favorable.

    The Players

    Nikola Jokiฤ‡
    C, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 DEN 65 65 34.8 9.9 17.4 56.9 6.1 7.4 83.1 1.7 4.5 38.0 27.7 12.9 10.7 1.4 0.8 3.7
    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

    ADP: 2.6/1.4 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 1/1 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 1/1 (8/9-cat)

    Jokiฤ‡ once again delayed Victor Wembanyama’s ascension to the summit of fantasy basketball. While Jokiฤ‡ did ultimately miss 17 games, it was not enough for him to be touched on totals — especially considering other top fantasy stars also missed games. Timing-wise, Jokiฤ‡ missed 16 games from December 31 to January 29 due to a left knee bone bruise caused by a hyperextension. His next absence was for the penultimate game of the regular season in April, meaning he played through the fantasy playoffs entirely. Despite Jokiฤ‡ playing 70 games in 2024-25, he missed five games from March 17 to March 24 — which would have been catastrophic for managers in H2H leagues. Games played matter of course, but sometimes the timing of injuries matters more.

    The Joker averaged a triple-double for the second consecutive season, averaging his second-most points and rebounds, his joint-third-most steals and blocks (both tied with two other seasons),ย  his third-best FT%, second-best 3P% with his third-most 3-pointers, third-best 2P% and sixth-best FG%.
    Jokiฤ‡ also recorded a career-high with his 10.9 assists per game.

    In the real-life playoffs, the Joker was held to his lowest-ever FG% and 3P% in the postseason with his third-highest turnovers during a six-game first-round loss to the Wolves. Rudy Gobert provided some of the best 1-on-1 coverage of Jokiฤ‡ we have ever seen, but that shouldn’t impact the Joker’s potential for another No. 1 fantasy finish, even if Wemby continues to up the pressure on him.

    Jamal Murray
    PG, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 DEN 75 75 35.4 8.8 18.1 48.3 4.6 5.2 88.7 3.3 7.5 43.5 25.4 4.4 7.1 0.9 0.4 2.3
    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

    ADP: 36.8/39.2 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 9/7 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 14/9 (8/9-cat)

    Murray completed an All-Star and All-NBA Third Team season with career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, FG%, triples and 3P%. Murray’s FT% was the second-highest of his career, but it was interesting that his 1.4 steals per game in 2024-25 fell off to 0.9 SPG in 2025-26. Given his ADPs, Murray was an enormous win for his managers and a breakout fantasy star (wink, wink, we will talk about him more later).

    Aaron Gordon
    PF, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 DEN 36 33 27.9 5.5 11.1 49.7 3.5 4.5 76.7 1.7 4.4 38.9 16.2 5.8 2.7 0.6 0.3 1.1
    24-25 DEN 51 42 28.4 5.2 9.7 53.1 2.8 3.5 81.0 1.5 3.4 43.6 14.7 4.8 3.2 0.5 0.3 1.4
    23-24 DEN 73 73 31.5 5.5 9.8 55.6 2.4 3.7 65.8 0.5 1.9 29.0 13.9 6.5 3.5 0.8 0.6 1.4

    ADP: 114.0/113.0 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 278/268 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 153/133 (8/9-cat)

    After Gordon recorded career-highs of .436 3P% and .810 FT% in the 2024-25 season, he followed it up with his second-best 3P% (.389) on his joint-second-most attempts per game and his second-best FT% (.767). However, after 51 games (42) starts in 2024-25, Gordon’s injury woes worsened, as he played a career-low 36 games (including 33 starts, the fewest of his career excluding his rookie season).

    Gordon actually opened the season with a career-high 50 points and 10 3-pointers across 39 minutes in a loss to the Warriors. Teams clearly still had to adjust to the reality of him being a much better shooter. He missed two games for hamstring injury management in November, but then a right hamstring strain on November 21 cost him 19 games, returning to the court in January. He missed two more games for injury management and after inexplicably playing both legs of a back-to-back, Gordon strained his hamstring again on January 23, missing 17 games until a return on March 6. Gordon would then miss six more games for injury management, resulting in his total of 46 games missed in the regular season. In the postseason, Gordon’s calf flared up, as he missed three games from the six-game first-round series due to left calf tightness. His issues with soft-tissue injuries don’t seem to be going away. Of course, reduced minutes and lack of rhythm impacted his stats, but he still recorded his third-highest scoring average in the regular season. Gordon’s per-game averages for steals were his joint-third-fewest and his blocks were his joint-lowest ever, which contributed to some stifled per-game fantasy upside despite his palpable offensive improvements. If he could put together a perfect storm: health, maintaining the shooting and balancing the defense, Gordon could be a player with 12-team appeal, but it does not seem responsible to expect all three things to come together easily.

    Cameron Johnson
    PF, Denver Nuggets
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 DEN 54 54 30.5 4.2 8.8 48.0 1.7 2.1 83.9 2.0 4.7 43.0 12.2 3.8 2.4 0.7 0.4 0.9
    24-25 BKN 57 57 31.6 6.2 13.1 47.5 3.5 3.9 89.3 2.8 7.2 39.0 18.8 4.3 3.4 0.9 0.4 1.7
    23-24 BKN 58 47 27.6 4.8 10.7 44.6 1.5 1.9 78.9 2.4 6.1 39.1 13.4 4.3 2.4 0.8 0.3 1.0

    ADP: 90.6/126.3 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 185/155 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 163/131 (8/9-cat)

    This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team.ย You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!ย Premium Access Required

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    May 26, 2026, 12:19 am