It wasn’t a surprise that the Denver Nuggets didn’t make any selections in either round the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday and Thursday night.

“I think there were some situations in the first round and the second round it was close,” Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Ben Tenzer shared with local media on Thursday night. “We had our targets. We looked hard at those targets. Had to evaluate where they would get to. Could we get there? It’s tricky, but I would say we were moderately close in a couple different scenarios.”

Moderately close is probably going to be the buzzword of the offseason for Denver. They’re going to look at a variety of different things this offseason to change the roster and make it better.

That process started at the draft. Ultimately, with such limited resources and a limited number of roster spots on the roster, the Nuggets chose to keep their powder dry. Fans would have loved to hear about an aggressive trade to go get a player the front office really likes, but that’s not necessarily the best way to go about things from now on.

“This team is kind of where they are,” Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Jon Wallace stated in the duel press conference. “It doesn’t really make a lot of sense for us at the time to jump in, get draft fever.”

“We were able to kind of sit back and assess what the landscape is, and we’ll try to make some other decisions from here.”

While the Nuggets didn’t bring in a new draft pick, they did reportedly add a two-way contract in Missouri 3&D guard Tamar Bates. Tenzer also shared that there was a “good chance” that some of the two-way guys from last year – Trey Alexander, PJ Hall, and Spencer Jones – would be back on two-way contracts for this season

For what it’s worth, I concur with the Nuggets’ reasoning to not get involved. While it would be nice to be able to talk about a new draft pick, this is the situation the Nuggets find themselves in, and the resources Denver would have utilized to move into the draft might take away from their ability to improve the roster in the future. Frankly, it’s why they don’t have 2027 or 2029 first round picks left to trade and are in such a bind in the first place.

This is obviously not the last iteration of the Nuggets front office. Former general manager Calvin Booth almost certainly would have found a way to get involved, try to identify the next hidden gem that he sees and believes in. The Nuggets definitely don’t need that right now. They need to be more mindful.

That being said, there’s the fine line between being mindful and being content. Trying to figure out the difference with this new regime is going to be interesting. Are the Nuggets going to be properly aggressive to make the roster better? Are they going to pull out all of the stops to add to a rotation that clearly needs a significant infusion of depth and veteran talent?

The next few days will be a great test in that regard. On Monday, June 30th, the free agency negotiation window will open, and free agents will start flying off the board.

“I think we’re always going to be aggressive looking at everything,” Tenzer declared on Denver’s next steps, “but I think we’ll say we’ll probably focus more on free agency than trades.”

“Bench depth. I’ve said it before. Some more scoring on that second unit. Shooting obviously is one of the needs,” Wallace rattled off Denver’s hopes for the kind of talent they add in free agency. “And if we can, also try to find better point-of-attack defenders, try to get the bench to support our starting lineup.”

So, the Nuggets currently have three roster spots open if they don’t make any trades, and they’re going to try and cover these bases with those openings:

  • Second unit scoring
  • Outside shooting
  • Point-of-attack defense

That wouldn’t necessarily signify a return for any of Russell Westbrook, Vlatko Čančar, or DeAndre Jordan. All three definitely could come back, but if the Nuggets are going to fix the traits outlined above, they will be hard pressed to do so with just one signing.

It will be difficult to solve the scoring issue with Denver’s limited resources too. They have access to just the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception and Minimum Contracts in free agency, and scoring is often one of the most expensive skill sets.

Among this free agency class, the best point scorers per 100 possessions that the Nuggets MIGHT be able to add:

  • Tre Mann – Charlotte Hornets
  • Chris Boucher – Toronto Raptors
  • Sandro Mamukelashvili – San Antonio Spurs
  • Malcolm Brogdon – Washington Wizards
  • Kevin Porter Jr. – Milwaukee Bucks

The best outside shooters, focused on both volume of three-point attempts and three-point efficiency:

  • Sam Merrill – Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Alec Burks – Miami Heat
  • Sandro Mamukelashvili – San Antonio Spurs
  • Aaron Holiday – Houston Rockets
  • Gary Trent Jr. – Milwaukee Bucks
  • Doug McDermott – Sacramento Kings

The best perimeter point-of-attack defenders, focused on steal rate and overall disruption level:

  • Davion Mitchell – Miami Heat
  • De’Anthony Melton – Brooklyn Nets
  • Gary Harris – Orlando Magic
  • Gary Payton II – Golden State Warriors
  • Delon Wright – New York Knicks

These are the kinds of names the Nuggets will consider. The front office didn’t hand me these lists though. This is just me connecting the dots on where they might look based on skill sets and resources needed to add certain players.

If the Nuggets add three players from these lists, some fans will be happy and some will be put off. For example, if the Nuggets shooting and go get Sam Merrill for the TP-MLE, then they add Sandro Mamukelashvili (who interestingly popped up on multiple lists) and Delon Wright on minimum contracts, that would be pretty solid for what Denver has to work with. Here’s what the depth chart would probably look like:

  • Point Guard: Jamal Murray, Jalen Pickett, Delon Wright
  • Shooting Guard: Christian Braun, Sam Merrill, Julian Strawther
  • Small Forward: Michael Porter Jr., Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson
  • Power Forward: Aaron Gordon, DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji
  • Center: Nikola Jokic, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Dario Saric

That would be a pretty well-balanced roster behind the starting five, but it would still be relatively unremarkable without any trades. Is it much better than the roster last year that had Westbrook, Jordan, and Čančar? Probably not. It’s different, and maybe the feeling around the group would be different with more emphasis on the development of those younger players around the starting five.

And yet, the first extended losing streak would be a major test for the organization to not simply just play the starters 36 minutes a night until they right the ship again.

The path of least resistance for Denver is still to just sign free agents that may or may not fit a need next year and call it a day. Denver can get away with that this offseason because they took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games. Last offseason was a similar story. Denver was one game away from the Conference Finals and didn’t believe they would seriously miss Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s contributions. They ended up in exactly the same spot.

The Nuggets new front office hasn’t had to confront the idea that this group isn’t good enough yet. The constant messaging has been that Denver’s close. They’ve got a great starting five and just need to fill in the holes behind those guys. Easier said than done, and also, the holes are getting bigger every year as the core gets further and further away from that championship. That’s the actual justification in all of this, and I don’t believe the Nuggets are correct in that thinking.

But if they are, and if they make the minor moves needed to reorient the roster for the next championship run, it will be an incredibly impressive turnaround from a difficult situation.