After winning a championship in 2023, the Nuggets looked poised to potentially start a dynasty.
Denver brought back all of its key rotation players minus Bruce Brown Jr., but the same starting five that ran roughshod over the NBA a year ago simply was not as good as Minnesota's top five in the 2024 Western Conference Semifinals.
"The better team won," Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after his team was eliminated.
What do the Nuggets do from here? How can they make improvements to their team? And what will they be looking at during an offseason where building another championship team can be the only goal?
Here are the big questions that the Nuggets will have to tackle.
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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the offseason priority
KCP has a $15.4 million player option for next season. He can probably get a bigger deal given how valuable he is and the terrible free agent summer class. The expectation should be that he opts out and becomes an unrestricted free agent, or signs a large extension with Denver.
The Nuggets must bring Caldwell-Pope back. They are projected to be well into the tax with no cap space to sign any prominent free agents except their own, so they have only the $5.1 million taxpayer mid-level exception to replace him if he leaves. They would have to lean heavily on Justin Holiday or go with a much worse free-agent option like Isaac Okoro, Josh Richardson or Taurean Prince.
At age 31, KCP is likely going to decline in play with every ongoing season, but he is still a borderline All-Defensive player who hit 40.6 percent of his 3s during the regular season. There is a very good reason why he's been a part of two championship teams. He will still be an above-average starter at his position for the foreseeable future.
KCP will be eligible to sign a four-year, $96.8 million extension if he opts into his deal, per ESPN's Bobby Marks. That would likely take the Nuggets into the apron, which will even further restrict their ability to sign free agents or make trades. They will have to look for ring-chasing veterans willing to take a minimum deal.
Michael Porter Jr. upgrades
MPJ had a terrible playoff series in which he shot just 37.1 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from 3. He's an OK rebounder and improved defender, but when he's not drilling jumpers, there's not much more that he's bringing to the table.
If the Nuggets want to upgrade their starting five, then Porter is the obvious candidate to get moved. He will be 26 years old next season and his $35.9 million salary gives the team a big salary slot that they can fill with one or two better players.
One of the Nuggets' big issues was the lack of depth on their roster. Nikola Jokic looked tired down the stretch of Game 7 after receiving just 84 seconds of rest. Breaking up Porter's deal into a couple of different players (particularly a backup five, which they've needed for years) might help balance out the roster.
Free agency, draft, other trade options
The Nuggets aren't going to be able to sign any game-changers in free agency this summer. They're looking at re-signing Caldwell-Pope, Holiday and adding some very low-salaried veterans around the fringes.
The draft and their younger players are going to be their best avenue to improve. Denver has the No. 28 and 56 pick in this summer's draft. Our draft expert Kyle Irving has them taking tough-nosed point guard Tyler Kolek and big man Adem Bona in his two-round mock draft.
Denver could trade those picks after the draft, along with its 2031 first-rounder, to try and bring more win-now talent onto the roster. It could also hope that some of its younger players continue to improve internally.
Christian Braun took another step forward this year, playing well in place of MPJ and earning a bigger spot in Malone's playoff rotation. Peyton Watson wasn't able to get that same level of trust, but he showed flashes of his great defensive potential and playmaking as well. Those two should continue to play more next season.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Nuggets shouldn't hit the panic button. They're likely going to bring back mostly the same team, and they were good enough to win the championship this season with some better luck. Getting a more capable backup for Jokic, one or two more players to count on from the bench and ideally some more shot creation might be enough to get them back into the winner's circle next year.
