The Denver Nuggets have found a little help for their non-Nikola Jokic minutes since Marvin Bagley III arrived, but the bench problem is still staring them in the face. The issue isn’t just scoring. It’s the lack of shot-making from deep, and right now that part of the rotation is giving them almost nothing.
Denver’s bench ranks 24th in the league in points at 30.3 per game, but the three-point numbers are even uglier. The Nuggets are dead last in bench threes, and it’s not close.
They’re taking just 7.0 per game and making 2.0. The 29th-place team is already up at 11 attempts and 3.1 makes.
That gap says plenty about how thin the margin is for this group.
Julian Strawther is the missing piece. The Nuggets can point to Tim Hardaway Jr. as the bench shooter they had last season, but Strawther was supposed to be the answer this year.
Instead, he’s rehabbing a knee injury and won’t be re-evaluated until around the first week of December. That’s a tough break for a player who had started the preseason on a hot streak, taking 5.8 threes per game and hitting 43.5% of them.
He also shot 38.7% from deep last season, which made him the obvious candidate to be Denver’s volume perimeter option off the bench.
Without him, the options are thin. Spencer Jones and Trevon Brazile are the only real three-point threats coming off the bench right now.
Jones has the better track record, having shot 39.6% from beyond the arc last year, and he’s at 50% through three appearances. Brazile is at 33.3%.
That leaves the starters to shoulder more of the load. Jamal Murray is leading the way, with Denver’s starters ranking fifth in made threes at 9.5 per game.
Murray is averaging 7.8 attempts and hitting 51.3%, while Cameron Johnson is next at 5.3 attempts and 43.2%. If the Nuggets are going to climb out of 28th in three-point attempts and 27th in makes, those two are going to have to keep pushing the volume.
The problem is showing up on the other side too. Opponents are getting up more threes against Denver, and the Nuggets have been outshot from deep by an average of 7.4 attempts per game. In seven of their 10 games, the other team has made more threes than Denver.
For now, there doesn’t seem to be a clean fix. The front office could chase a trade, or the Nuggets can try to survive until Strawther is healthy again. With the Western Conference standings this tight, though, waiting may not be a luxury they have.
In Other News...
Nets Fans Should Watch One Costly Trade Possibility Closely
The Spurs have already spent much of the offseason locking in the group that helped them last season, and they added veteran forward Tobias Harris as part of a push to improve their shooting. Harris is now sidelined with a calf injury, which only adds a little more uncertainty to a roster that was built with an eye toward spacing and reliable perimeter production.
Against that backdrop, media speculation has started to circle around another possible move that would further address those same needs. For Brooklyn, it is the kind of trade chatter worth monitoring closely because it points to a team looking for more shooting help on the wing, and it could become one of the more expensive options on the market if San Antonio decides to keep pressing in that direction. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Trade Buzz Around Aaron Gordon Just Got More Complicated
The Nuggets front office appears willing to at least hear people out on Aaron Gordon and Cam Johnson, which is enough to keep the rumor mill busy without signaling a true shakeup. Rival teams have had interest in both forwards since the last trade deadline, but Denver passed on making any moves then, and the current posture sounds more like due diligence than a full-on sale.
Still, the situation could shift depending on how the season is going as the deadline gets closer. Denver already turned away approaches for Johnson before, and if the team is hovering around the middle of the standings again, those conversations could get revisited in a more serious way. For now, the Nuggets seem content to keep their options open and let the market come to them. [Read more 🡒]
Nikola Jokic Just Got Caught In A Nuggets Concern Fans Will Feel
Colorado voters just approved Amendment 87, and the ripple effect reaches well beyond the ballot box for Denvers biggest sports stars. The measure creates a graduated state income tax that will begin hitting income above $500,000 in 2027, a change that is set to matter most for the citys highest earners, including Nikola Jokic.
For the Nuggets, it is another reminder that the business side of stardom can change quickly even when the on-court picture stays the same. Jokic, along with other prominent figures such as Kris Bryant and Deion Sanders, stands to feel the new structure in a meaningful way, with Colorados top marginal rate climbing to 8.4% on the highest slice of income. [Read more 🡒]