The Denver Nuggets have spent most of the offseason moving at a crawl, but a few modest additions have started to clear the picture. Minimum signings and a draft pick have already changed about a third of the roster, and while there are still spots to fill, the depth chart is beginning to come into focus.
One important note: Peyton Watson has not been signed in free agency, but he’s included here because the Nuggets are expected to match offers to keep him around.
At point guard, Jamal Murray remains the anchor. He’s heading into his 10th season in Denver, and the Nuggets will keep leaning on him to run the offense. The catch is that he’ll need to be cleaner with the ball and better on defense this season.
Tyus Jones gives Denver something it badly needed: ball security. That’s his calling card, and it’s a big reason the Nuggets brought him in.
But he comes with limitations. He’s not a strong defender, he’s undersized, and he looks more like a PG3 than a true second option behind Murray.
Denver still should be hunting for another point guard, whether that’s someone like Russell Westbrook or a more flexible guard who can handle the ball at times.
The shooting guard picture gets more interesting if Watson is retained. In that case, he makes a cleaner fit in the starting group than Christian Braun, while Braun becomes a valuable sixth man.
Watson brings more scoring and defense, and he shot the three better than Braun last season. Both players were slowed by injuries, which only raises the stakes for Julian Strawther in 2026-27.
Strawther needs real minutes, and head coach David Adelman can’t keep being so cautious with young players. He barely played Strawther in the playoffs, then leaned on Braun even though Braun may have been dealing with an injury against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
New signing Alpha Diallo adds another wrinkle. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in the EuroLeague in 2025-26, and while he can guard all five spots when needed, he’s best on the wing.
Small forward looks like Cameron Johnson’s spot, and it’s a position group that suddenly has real depth. Braun, Diallo, Strawther and Watson all factor in here too, and Diallo gives Denver a noticeable defensive boost.
This may be the Nuggets’ deepest group overall, and it also looks like the cleanest fit. There may not be much reason to touch it again before the season.
Power forward is where the uncertainty starts to pile up. Aaron Gordon sits at the top, and Marvin Bagley III looks like the next man up. Denver signed Bagley in free agency, and he should be able to back up both the four and the five while seeing meaningful minutes.
After that, the Nuggets are banking on their top draft pick and recent long-term signing Trevon Brazile to keep flashing the upside he’s shown in Summer League. Brazile can stretch the floor with his three-point shot, and if defenders close out too hard, he can attack the rim and finish with his athleticism.
Diallo can also handle some minutes at the four because of his defense, but that’s where the roster starts to run into the DaRon Holmes II and Zeke Nnaji issue. Holmes never really got a chance as a rookie, so there’s still mystery there. Nnaji, meanwhile, may not see much of the floor and looks like a strong trade candidate if Denver wants to dump salary.
At center, there’s no debate at the top: Nikola Jokic is the man. The real question has long been who handles the minutes when he sits, and this time the answer appears to be Bagley.
He can play both frontcourt spots and should log a solid workload backing up Jokic and Gordon. Denver is hoping for better defense, more athleticism, stronger finishing around the basket and better rebounding from him.
Brazile can also play the five, though he’ll need more strength to be a reliable backup center. Even so, he may end up being a better option than Holmes.
In Other News...
Tyus Jones Move May Reveal More About Denvers Plan Than Fans Realize
Tyus Jones return to Denver on a minimum deal looked, on the surface, like the kind of low-risk guard depth move contenders make every summer. But around the Nuggets, the finer print matters just as much as the contract itself, because every roster decision now gets filtered through how aggressively the front office wants to keep pushing its payroll and flexibility in the years ahead.
That is why Jones place on the roster feels like more than a simple backup point guard addition. Denver has been linked to the idea of operating in second-apron territory, a costly path that would signal real commitment to the current core, even if it means paying up to keep the group together and sorting out the rest of the rotation later. Whether that is the plan or just noise, Jones arrival fits neatly into a bigger question the Nuggets still have to answer about how far they are willing to go. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets May Finally Be Addressing Their Biggest Non Jokic Problem
The Nuggets spent much of last season trying to make their non-Jokic minutes work with a smaller, more perimeter-heavy look, and this offseason suggests they may be ready to try a different answer. Denver has brought in more size and athleticism across the roster, with Marvin Bagley III, Alpha Diallo and Trevon Brazile all giving the second unit a different physical profile than the one it leaned on before.
What makes that shift especially interesting is the bench construction around it. Tyus Jones is the only true reserve point guard on hand, which opens the door for Denver to get creative and play bigger behind the starters instead of forcing another small-ball setup. A taller second unit built around Christian Braun, Julian Strawther, Diallo, Brazile and Bagley would look a lot different, and it may be the clearest sign yet that the Nuggets are trying to solve one of their biggest non-Jokic problems in a new way. [Read more 🡒]