The Denver Nuggets built last season’s elite offense on more than just Nikola Jokic, and the numbers from deep tell the story. Over 82 games, Denver finished with the NBA’s best offensive rating, and for the first time in the Jokic era, the franchise sat atop that category. A big reason was the way the Nuggets lit it up from three-point range.
That level of production, though, looks tough to duplicate.
Denver led the league in three-point percentage at 39.6% last season, which also stands as the third-most efficient three-point shooting season in NBA history among teams with at least 900 made threes. The Nuggets are typically a strong shooting team from outside, but this was clearly a peak year rather than the new normal.
Roster turnover is the main reason to expect a dip. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Peyton Watson are both gone, and Denver loses two of the four players who shot 40% or better from three last season, minimum two attempts per game.
Hardaway Jr. was a huge part of that success. In his only season with the Nuggets, he hit 40.7% of his threes on 6.9 attempts per game before leaving for the Miami Heat in free agency. Denver is hoping Julian Strawther can step into that bench-shooting role, but matching Hardaway Jr.’s volume and efficiency is a tall order.
Watson gave the Nuggets another efficient threat, connecting on 41.1% of his threes on 3.6 attempts per game while putting together a career year before being sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade this summer. Denver’s replacement there is DeMar DeRozan, a career 30.2% three-point shooter.
The Nuggets also shouldn’t count on the same outlier seasons from their top returning shooters. Jamal Murray led the team at 43.5% from deep on a team-high 7.5 attempts per game, and Cam Johnson followed at 43% on 4.7 attempts per game after finding his rhythm following a slow start to his first year in Denver.
Murray is normally a strong shooter, but last season was another level. Johnson, meanwhile, posted the most efficient season of his career. Both players can still be reliable, but expecting them to repeat those exact marks is a stretch.
So while Denver still profiles as a top-five offense, a step back from the perimeter wouldn’t be a shock. The Nuggets shouldn’t suddenly become a weakness from long range, but after losing two of their top four shooters, it makes sense to keep the expectations grounded.
In Other News...
Cam Whitmore Could Change How Nuggets Fans View The Peyton Watson Trade
The Peyton Watson trade left plenty of Nuggets fans uneasy, since Watson still looked like the kind of young, homegrown piece Denver could have built around for years. But the story has taken an unexpected turn with Cam Whitmore, another former first-round pick who was part of the larger deal and now gives the Nuggets a fresh developmental swing. Whitmore arrives on a two-way contract, which keeps the risk low while giving Denver a chance to see whether his talent can translate into real help down the line.
For a team that has had to balance contending right now with keeping an eye on the future, that matters. Whitmore is still more projection than certainty, and no one is pretending his presence makes up for what fans felt they lost when Watson moved on. Still, if he develops into a useful rotation player, the trade will look a lot less painful in hindsight, and Nuggets supporters may end up viewing the whole sequence a little differently. [Read more 🡒]
DeMar DeRozan Could Change How Nuggets Fans View This Offseason
The Nuggets spent most of the offseason boxed in by salary cap realities, which made every move feel more about survival than splash. They brought back Tyus Jones, dealt Peyton Watson to help manage luxury tax costs, and generally had little wiggle room to reshape the roster in a meaningful way.
Then came DeMar DeRozan, a veteran scorer whose game gives Denver another layer it had been missing. His arrival should make the offense more versatile and add the sort of seasoned presence the Nuggets have been trying to preserve, which is why this summer may look a lot different if his fit proves as useful as it appears on paper. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Camp Could Decide Two Crucial Bench Roles
Denver enters training camp with the same basic shape that carried it into contention, but the real intrigue is on the second unit. The starting group is mostly set, which only makes the bench competition more important for a team that knows it needs more reliable depth to keep its title hopes on track.
Lonnie Walker IV is part of that fight after signing a non-guaranteed deal, while DaRon Holmes is trying to turn a secure roster place into a meaningful rotation role after returning from injury. Both have a clear path to matter if camp goes well, and for Denver, those battles could end up shaping not just the final roster, but how workable the bench looks when the season begins. [Read more 🡒]