The Denver Nuggets are headed into the 2026-27 season with a familiar spine and a very different bench, and that opens the door for some lineup tinkering. Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic are still in place, but the supporting cast has been reshaped with DeMar DeRozan, Marvin Bagley III, Alpha Diallo, and Trevon Brazile joining the roster. Tyus Jones, Julian Strawther, and DaRon Holmes are also positioned for more run, which means David Adelman has options to play with.
The most intriguing wrinkle is a two-big look with Jokic and Bagley. Denver flirted with that concept last season when Jokic shared the floor with Jonas Valanciunas, and the results were hard to ignore: in 43 minutes together, the pair posted a net rating of +19.8.
Small sample, sure, but the minutes worked. Valanciunas is gone now, waived by the Nuggets this offseason, and Bagley looks like a more dynamic version of that idea.
Bagley brings the kind of traits that can make life easier next to Jokic. He adds athleticism, length, and a more versatile two-way profile, and even if he’s listed as Denver’s backup center, he’s naturally a power forward who should be able to pick up minutes alongside Jokic. His numbers from last season with the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks back up the case: 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds in 20 minutes per game, plus shooting splits of 61.8% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc.
There’s also a path for Bagley to matter if Gordon misses time. That would not be a shocking development after Gordon played just 36 games last season and 51 in 2024-25. Spencer Jones would be the obvious replacement, as Denver showed last season, but Bagley is the better bet if the Nuggets want more size and more juice in that spot.
What Denver should not do, though, is keep going small around Jokic and hope it holds up. The Nuggets finished 21st in defense last season, and some of their worst lineups were the ones that paired Jokic with a smaller group.
The Murray-Braun-Johnson-Jones-Jokic lineup was especially rough on that end, even with Jones bringing solid defensive chops. The message is pretty clear: Jokic needs a power forward or another center next to him if Denver wants those groups to function.
That matters even more with the Nuggets trying to raise their defensive level in a Western Conference that includes the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Adelman has pieces to work with now, but the challenge is finding combinations that actually balance the floor instead of exposing it.
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Brown remains on the market, even with reported interest from the 76ers, and the longer he waits, the more his next stop starts to feel like a lingering mystery. Denvers choice of Diallo as a defensive specialist says plenty about the direction of the roster, too, with the Nuggets leaning toward a different kind of answer for the bench minutes Brown once covered so well. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets May Need DeMar DeRozan In A Role Fans Didn't Expect
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That kind of usage would lean on DeRozans experience as more of a point-forward, especially in pick-and-roll actions, and it would give head coach David Adelman another way to keep the ball moving without asking one player to handle everything. It is an unconventional fit on paper, but it is the sort of adjustment that can matter for a team trying to survive the non-Murray minutes without losing its rhythm. [Read more 🡒]