Bennett, which games do you have circled on the Nuggets schedule this year?

— Daniel, Sloans Lake

I’ll give you five since you asked so nicely (and because I was on vacation when the schedule was released). Let’s start with the obvious: Jan. 21, 2025. That’s the day the 76ers come to town. This game guarantees intrigue and entertainment regardless of what happens with the elephant in the room. If Joel Embiid plays, it’ll be his first time facing Denver on Nikola Jokic’s home turf since Nov. 8, 2019. If he doesn’t play, the peanut gallery will relish every second of it. Ball Arena will be uproarious. Either way, great theater. (My favorite scheduling tidbit: Inauguration Day is Jan. 20, meaning the NBA has guaranteed that an entire American presidency begins and ends without Embiid playing in Denver.)

2. The Grizzlies are the wildest wild card in the league after the high peaks and low valleys of the last two years. And the Nuggets get to visit them on Beale Street for an NBA Cup (in-season tournament) clash early in the season. I couldn’t make this list without highlighting at least one game that’ll be played on a goofy court, and this one is the most fascinating to me. Ja Morant back from the dead, just in time for the Group of Death.

3. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope makes his return to Denver on Feb. 6. It’s a tasty matchup even before factoring in what’s sure to be a tear-jerking tribute video. The Magic swept the Nuggets last season, and the last two meetings between these teams in Denver have both been memorable. Paolo Banchero scored 32 points in his first career triple-double to lead an 18-point comeback last January, ending with Jamal Murray’s last-second miss. The year before, Jokic sank a game-winning 3 with 1.2 ticks left. Orlando is intent on leveling up in the East now with KCP’s guidance.

4. Denver plays a back-to-back series in Oklahoma City, March 9 and 10. Major litmus test a couple of weeks after the All-Star break. The way I see it, the Thunder deserve to be clear preseason favorites to win the West, unlike last year when it felt like they were still in the early stages of their rise, punching above their weight class to hang with Denver in the standings. The Nuggets are back to being underdogs this season, in this matchup at minimum. The back-to-back also takes place during a grueling, make-or-break stretch of the schedule, surrounded by the Celtics, Kings, Suns, Timberwolves and Lakers.

5. Another back-to-back, Jan. 3 and 4 against the Spurs. After the first game in Denver, both teams fly to San Antonio. I for one have my fingers crossed the Nuggets bring Jokic along for Round 2 because it would be devastating to deprive basketball fans of a single Joker vs. Wemby battle from now on.

While the Nuggets got one championship out of the current ownership-GM-coach setup, there seems to always be a 5-10% simmer of conflict between the three dealing with salaries, roster-building and playing time. … Another season of not reaching the expected potential will bring about what: Malone or Booth gone? Trading assets (anyone not including Jokic)? Or more patience and retooling for next season?

— John Steichen, Fort Collins

Ah, the paradoxical question that obsesses every sports fan about his or her team. You pose it while hoping it will never be answered.

Seeing as this is awfully hypothetical and premature for a team that views itself as a top-tier championship contender, I can only give you educated guesswork, not reporting. My sense is that sweeping change would be more likely than complete static if the 2024-25 season went awry. What changes, exactly? Nothing you suggested is impossible, once you wrap your head around the notion that Jokic is the most essential person to any team in the league right now. By that logic, he’s also the only truly immovable object in the Nuggets’ organization.

This is a cutthroat league. Think about Milwaukee, another small market franchise that was lifted to the pinnacle by a transcendent European star. Two summers later, the coach was fired and a player from the championship core was traded. It all started with a second-round Game 7 loss the year after the Bucks won the title. Even in the underdog cities, patience runs thin.

All that being said, I have a hard time envisioning the Nuggets finishing lower than fourth in the West this season, barring major injuries. With a team this good, hot seats are usually a topic reserved for the playoffs, so I don’t see this as an imminent issue. Michael Malone is tenured and beloved in Denver, and Josh Kroenke hasn’t hesitated to speak highly of general manager Calvin Booth in the recent past.

From the outside looking in, it seems Booth and Malone are not aligned. Case in point is Zeke Nnaji. I read that Booth said Nnaji was drafted as a 4 and we (Malone?) tried to make him a small 5, and it hasn’t worked. It seems like Booth still talks as if Nnaji has value, but then he drafts Holmes who he says is a 4 all day. Two questions … Where do you think Booth stands on Nnaji? Are Booth and Malone not in sync on the direction to play youth?

— Michael, Denver

I don’t think it’s any secret that Malone is often reluctant to give extended runway to young players. Booth has placed a clear emphasis on the draft, out of necessity from his perspective. Malone has addressed this friction in his own words. “As a coach, I’m thinking, ‘How do we win the next game?’ That’s my job,” he said after the season. “Calvin, as a GM, is thinking about, ‘How do we win the next couple of years?’ That’s his job.”

Translation: A little tension is inherent and healthy in the working relationship between a coach and GM. Fair enough. It’s just a matter of whether the Nuggets can locate the proper balance. Nnaji might be an example that they haven’t fully accomplished that yet. Doesn’t mean they can’t.

From a game-to-game standpoint during the season, that balance rests on Malone’s shoulders. With DaRon Holmes II injured, there will be no rookie playing time for him to manage this season unlike the last two, perhaps a silver lining for a lousy situation. Instead, this year it’s more about Malone’s approach to expanding players’ roles: Christian Braun to the starting lineup (potentially), Julian Strawther to the rotation, Peyton Watson to the playoff rotation.

As for Nnaji, Booth has been clear that he still believes in him. But the contract obviously looks terrible right now. I think the best Denver can hope for is an enhancement of Nnaji’s trade value early this season — which, of course, requires playing time.

Thank you, Bennett, for your excellent insight to our beloved Nuggets. I know there is much debate about whether or not MPJ is worth his max contract and if he should be traded. I’m wondering what his next contract looks like if he continues to play like he has the past few years (solid offensive option and on the defensive glass while providing little defensively.) If he stays on this trajectory, do you think the Nuggets would offer him another max contract, or something more in line with the kind of contract Aaron Gordon has now? And would MPJ take that? What are your thoughts? Thanks!

— Eric, Parker

Depends on the market for him, right? If Porter makes it to the end of his current contract without getting traded, and suitors aren’t lining up to offer him a second max in free agency, then he might not have a choice but than to accept something less. I think a lot of teams are feeling stingier by necessity about giving out that type of contract right now, with the new CBA guardrails in place.

Based on that logic alone, I think MPJ is a case where it wouldn’t hurt the Nuggets to wait, rather than sign him as soon as he’s extension-eligible. It’s also relevant context that Denver’s current general manager is not the same GM who signed Porter to a max deal the first time.

There are still three years left on the current contract, so a lot can happen before 2027. Everything I hear is that Porter is a relentlessly hard worker when it comes to his body; maybe by then, his injury history is behind him and he’s one of the best shooters in the league without an asterisk. Or maybe the past keeps haunting him. Maybe he’ll be traded before 2027. It’s tough to project his future right now.

Are any local press traveling to Abu Dhabi with the team?

— Grace, Oakland

Let’s just say I’ve been researching neck pillows in my free time lately.

Looking ahead, who do you see having the better season at Ball Arena? The Nuggets and Avs are stacked and ready to make postseason runs again, but my money is on the Avs with Gabe Landeskog making his return. Seems like too many unknowns with the Nuggets rotation.

— Rip, Aurora

Someone always asks me a Nuggets-Avalanche comparison question. This one’s a coin flip, honestly. I’d push back on your point about the Nuggets’ unknowns by saying those are mostly deeper in the rotation, whereas Landeskog and Val Nichushkin are still the two biggest, most expensive unknowns in Denver sports right now (unless you count the buyout money Deion Sanders will owe CU once Florida State has an opening in December).

The West is so good in the NBA that I’d lean toward the Avs having a better regular season. But I’ll always maintain the Stanley Cup Playoffs can be especially cruel or fluky. The Nuggets have a better chance to reach their Finals.

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The Nuggets will test the limits of that question. The focal point of their controversial 2024 offseason was the forfeiture of free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a valuable 3-and-D guard who started almost every game the last two seasons and shot 41.5% from 3-point range. Adding to the apprehension was Denver’s acquisition of Russell Westbrook — a no-doubt Hall of Famer, but also more of a floor-condenser than floor-spacer.

Twelve of the last 13 NBA champions ranked in the top 10 in 3-point percentage during the regular season. (The one exception was the 2020 bubble Lakers, perhaps more of a commentary on how weird that season was.) Eight of those title-winning teams ranked in the top five. Emphasis on the 3-pointer inflated more than any world economy after the emergence of Steph Curry. The Celtics took the trend to new extremes last season by attempting 603 more 3s than the league average.

The Nuggets’ formula in recent years has been low volume, high efficiency. They ranked fourth in the NBA in 3-point percentage and 25th in attempts the year they won the title. Both of those rankings took a hit during the 2023-24 season, but the principle was unchanged. They were still 10th in percentage at 37.4%, teetering on the edge of what qualifies for modern championship legitimacy, but their 2,560 attempts were the fewest in the league.

As the second-most recent champs, they represent a stylistic antithesis to Boston.

Still, even for a team that has seemingly managed to transcend the trend of spamming 3s, the math can’t be neglected. What is the state of Denver’s arsenal entering 2024-25?

In shedding Caldwell-Pope, Reggie Jackson and Justin Holiday, the Nuggets are losing 728 of their regular-season attempts — more than 28% of them. Those three players combined to shoot the 3 at a 38.7% clip. Remove their numbers, and the new team percentage is 36.9%, which would’ve ranked 14th in the league.

That means the Nuggets need to regain at least some of the lost contributions, via returners or newcomers. Start with the latter. Based on 2023-24 stats, they’ve added back 351 combined 3-point attempts this summer between Westbrook and Dario Saric — bringing the net loss to 377 attempts. Denver won’t necessarily want Westbrook shooting a ton of 3s anyway; the two free-agent acquisitions combined for a 33% mark last season, a number heightened by Saric.

So to take the hypothetical team percentage a step further: If you replace the three departing players’ production last season with Saric’s and Westbrook’s, Denver’s new 3-point percentage comes out to 36.3% as a team. That would have ranked 19th.

This is all over-simplified, obviously. A player’s output can be a product of circumstance. Of his role within a system. Of his teammates. That much was evident with Jackson. He shot 44.3% from 3-point range in 23 games as a starter last season, when Denver needed him to replace Jamal Murray. In 59 games off the bench, he was a 31.6% shooter. The Nikola Jokic Effect is good for at least some of that massive gap. It’s encouraging that Saric (37.6% overall) shot 43% on wide-open 3s last season and 38.1% off the catch (the vast majority of his attempts).

As for Westbrook? Even if the Nuggets maximize his minutes alongside Jokic and the three-time MVP works his magic — elevating another teammate’s game just by existing in the same orbit — improved 3-point shooting probably won’t be the area where that takes effect.

More than 70% of Westbrook’s 3-point attempts last season were designated as wide-open, because opponents wanted it that way. He still made only 27.5% of those shots with the closest defender stationed 6 or more feet away — consistent with his overall 27.3% percentage. Jokic’s teammates are still responsible for cashing in on the open looks he provides them.

Russ is in Denver for other reasons. Not that.

So shift your gaze to the returners. (We’re skipping over draftee DaRon Holmes II, who’s out for the year in a stroke of terrible luck.) Any optimistic outlook on the 3-point arsenal needs to mention Vlatko Cancar, who’s also a newcomer in a sense. He missed all of last season with a torn ACL, after attempting a career-high 115 outside shots (37.4%) in his most recent healthy season. Regaining his 2022-23 productivity would be a notable boost. But is that realistic to expect? Cancar’s increased volume two years ago was largely a result of opportunity. His previous career-high for 3-point attempts in a season was 33.

If the Nuggets use a nine-man rotation in 2024-25, Cancar is likely not part of it. He’s certainly behind Westbrook, Saric, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson. And it’s up for debate whether he or Zeke Nnaji will be the 10th man. There’s more at stake for Denver with Nnaji’s development as his new contract begins. But if floor spacing is a top priority, Cancar might be more of a necessity. At any rate, it’s not a given that he’ll play enough to shoot 37% on triple-digit attempts. He also struggled dramatically during international play this summer. (More on that topic soon.)

The roster decisions Denver made this summer were widely interpreted as a big bet on the organization’s youth. Shooting is a vital aspect of that. Christian Braun is already on an ideal trajectory after his 38.4% sophomore season. Watson was 29.6% overall, but unlike Westbrook, he has a reason for confidence if he’s slightly more selective. He was 37.7% on his wide-open 3s. He’s still young. And he seems to have a balance of shot-making potential off the dribble and the catch.

Strawther looms over this entire discussion as the returning player about to make the biggest leap. He was drafted to be a spot-up sniper but shot just 29.7% as a rookie, despite a handful of electrifying heat checks. Developing his consistency is a clear X-factor. It’s a lot of pressure for a 22-year-old picked late in the first round.

All this roster movement makes it easy to overlook the core, where continuity remains a strength. The same two players have led the Nuggets in 3-point attempts the last two seasons — a distinction shared by only five other teams. And unlike three of those teams, Denver’s duo remains intact.

Murray and Michael Porter Jr. combined for 35% of Denver’s attempts in 2022-23 and 2023-24. They combined to make their 40.7% of those shots (725 for 1,781). Only the Warriors got better efficiency from their two highest-volume 3-point shooters during that two-year span (40.8%), and Klay Thompson is no longer in Golden State as of July.

The confluence of Murray and Porter’s respective injury recoveries was the setup for Denver’s championship season. They are the two most essential perimeter cogs in an offense that functions around Jokic. That was always the case, with or without Caldwell-Pope.

Losing KCP increases the pressure on their durability if anything. One injury to Murray or Porter, and the floor-spacing could start to shrink. It’s already clear that Murray’s shooting is prone to plummet if he plays while hurt. He shot 14% from 3-point range during the Paris Olympics, part of the Nuggets’ ominous trend on the international stage. Cancar was 1 for 14 (7%) in Slovenia’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Even Jokic, who led the Olympics in points, rebounds, assists and steals, suddenly couldn’t buy a basket beyond the arc. He was 17%.

That’s a lot of baggage entering training camp for a franchise that’s already in danger of 3-point regression due to its offseason choices. The foundation of Denver’s low-volume, high-efficiency identity is still there, but it’s thinner.

The 29th-ranked team in attempts last season?

The Orlando Magic — a team that’s trying to remedy that with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Shooting stars

The Nuggets are one of six NBA teams with the same two leaders in 3-point attempts each of the last two seasons. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have combined for a 40.7% clip during that time. How does that efficiency compare to other teams’ most relied-upon 3-point shooters between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons? Here’s a look:

(Can’t see chart on mobile? Click here.)

* All players still with team | NBA rank in parenthesis | Source: Basketball-Reference.com

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No nip or tuck revealed this more than releasing Tim Patrick. Few players have been more popular or respected in the locker room than the veteran receiver. And the Broncos absolutely made the right move by cutting him.

Sean Payton is as sentimental as a parking ticket. That is serving him well as he reshapes this roster around his type of players and younger players. Of the 53 left standing on Tuesday, only 19 remain from when Payton took over in February of 2023.

A foul roster has become speckled with foals. Finally, the Broncos are on the right track.

If you haven’t noticed, the previous eight years have — How do I put this? — not gone particularly well. There have been no playoff berths — only the New York Jets have a longer active postseason drought — and seven consecutive losing seasons. What they were doing wasn’t working.

Payton created accountability last season. And he put the Broncos in position to reach the postseason before the team fizzled against the Patriots, which featured underwhelming player performances and Payton clumsily managing the clock.

It spoke for the need to get more athletic, more in sync.

So, if this unannounced youth infusion came as a surprise, you are not paying close enough attention. This decision was made when the Broncos decided to eat $53 million of Russell Wilson’s $85 million in dead cap money this season.

Starting with the draft, most notably at quarterback, the Broncos have made a hard reset. No longer do they possess delusions of adequacy with mismatched parts. The time to shed veterans –– well the best time was after the 2017 season, but let’s not digress — is now.

Thank goodness. Logic has prevailed.

You cannot always build a future for the youth, but a football team can build a future with its youth. Look across the position groups, and younger players won out consistently. I kid you not.

The reason Patrick was released? Rookie Devaughn Vele brings a similar skill set and can play special teams. He is Patrick, circa 2018.

Samaje Perine was cut because there is more upside with fifth-rounder Audric Estime, and the new dynamic kickoff means keeping an X-factor like Blake Watson.

When news became official that Patrick was gone, my wife asked, “Isn’t that age discrimination?” Not in professional sports. It’s called athletic Darwinism or rebuilding. Take your pick. Either one works.

Payton is molding this team around core principles. Last year, the buzzwords were smart, tough and disciplined. This summer, they have been replaced by young, hungry and dangerous.

I am here for it.

On cut day last summer, the Broncos were the 24th-oldest team, averaging 26.2 years old. After Tuesday’s cut day, they rank 10th in average age at 25.76, per the Philly Voice.

Youth brings mistakes, hiccups and eye rolls. It also brings energy, enthusiasm and hope.

The most recent success of our professional teams traces to youth movements. The Avs leaned on Gabe Landeskog and crew. The Nuggets’ championship DNA formed around Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. And the Rockies turned Todd and the Toddlers into their first and only World Series berth.

How about Bo and the Booster Seats?

OK, it needs some more workshopping. You get the gist.

What the Broncos are doing is nuanced. Nix is the team’s only rookie set to start the season opener on Sept. 8. But the two-deep depth chart reveals how much younger the Broncos are trending, including two additions in edge rusher Jonah Elliss and inside linebacker Levelle Bailey, who play, according to general manager George Paton, “with their hair on fire.”

Some will argue that Patrick was necessary for Nix’s development. This is a fair point. But Courtland Sutton and Josh Reynolds can serve as his security blanket. And besides, it frees up reps for Vele and eventually Troy Franklin, both of whom figure to be around the next few years.

Fans would prefer Patrick stayed. Just as they wanted Josey Jewell, Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy — OK, probably not Jeudy — on the team. Patrick is set to join the Detroit Lions practice squad. He would have helped Denver, but not enough to move on from a younger player with positional versatility.

“It was obviously not an easy (decision). On behalf of everyone in the organization, we cannot say enough great things about the person and the player,” Paton said. “We wish him the very best. But we like our depth at receiver.”

This is how teams fast-track their development, even if it is foreign for Payton, who has traditionally counted on experience. Removing veterans prevents a coach from playing them. It gives those reps to players like cornerback Riley Moss, running back Jaleel McLaughlin and rotational defensive tackle Jordan Jackson.

But this process is nuanced.

The Broncos are integrating young players, not flooding the roster. That is why they resist the notion that they are rebooting. Nobody says it around headquarters. Not the owner, the coach or, on Tuesday, the GM.

“Our expectations haven’t changed,” Paton said. “We are all about winning.”

It hurts to see admired players like Patrick exit. But this is the way the Broncos can become the 2022 Lions or the 2024 Texans.

It is absolutely the right move to go younger because losing is getting really old.

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The Nuggets All-Star center on Monday received the highest overall rating — a 97 — in the upcoming “NBA 2K25” video game. It’s the second straight year in which he’s received that distinction.

Nikola Jokić is the highest rated player in #NBA2K25 at 97 OVR! #NBA2KTop100 pic.twitter.com/zRSVERNYZw

— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) August 26, 2024

Jokic’s score is slightly down from the 98 he had for “NBA 2K24.” It’s the sixth consecutive year in which he has reached the 90 mark in the initial ratings. He had initial 90 overall scores in the 2K20 and 2K21 editions of the game. He had a 95 in 2K22 and 96 in 2K23.

Dallas guard Luka Doncic and Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo also received 97 overall ratings but were ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 are Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (96), 76ers center Joel Embiid (96), Lakers forward LeBron James (95), Warriors guard Stephen Curry (95), Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (95), Suns forward Kevin Durant (94) and Lakers big man Anthony Davis (94).

Denver guard Jamal Murray (87) is ranked No. 38. He is the only other Nuggets player listed in the top 50. Celtics guard and Colorado native Derrick White (86) is No. 44 on the list.

“NBA 2K25” is slated for a Sept. 6 release date for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

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It’s been perceived that way by a majority of voices and pens outside Ball Arena, anyway. The Nuggets have been widely declared one of the losers of the NBA summer, owing to a combination of polarizing strategy, internationally staged inefficiency and plain awful luck.

Internally, that’s not how the front office views it. They’re aware of the dice they’ve cast, of course, most prominently in the avoidable sacrifice of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and subsequent additions of Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric. KCP signed with Orlando for three years and $66 million, an offer the Nuggets chose not to equal despite possessing his Bird rights. But if the outcome is a marginally worse (but still elite) starting lineup traded for marginally better depth and lineup versatility, so be it, their philosophy dictates.

That’s especially true with other player retention efforts to consider, even after Jamal Murray. Aaron Gordon becomes extension-eligible starting Sept. 27. Christian Braun and Peyton Watson each have two years remaining on their rookie deals.

Flexibility for future spending is a critical fourth dimension on the chessboard, Kroenke explained Wednesday after the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am.

“Once we knew that (Caldwell-Pope) was going to opt out and test the open market, we thought it would probably be pretty difficult to retain him,” he said when asked what the determining factor was in deciding what number to go to during KCP’s free agency. “We had some pretty good offers in that we thought made sense for us going forward, but when you hit the open market and there are teams that have space and there are teams that really need a certain skill set, (it’s difficult). We’ve been smart about how we’ve planned, and we think we have young players that can fill in to certain roles, and so we also have to think for the future in the new system.”

He speaks of the 1-year-old collective bargaining agreement, which the league is still breaking in. More specifically: the punitive competitive penalties associated with roster payroll passing the second tax apron.

“It’s much more relatable to the NHL style, even though the NBA’s not a pure hard cap,” Kroenke continued. “In the NHL, whenever you think about contracts and you start to plan, you have to think a year or two ahead. Because if you give up space, and you have to wind up getting off players to give up something you don’t want to give up, that’s not a good place to be. So we’re pretty excited about the group we’ve got — while also planning and keeping an eye on that future and making sure we have our flexibility to retain the guys we want to keep.”

A comparison of salary cap systems in the NBA and NHL spurs an obvious follow-up question: Should the expectation be that Nuggets ownership will not exceed the second apron going forward? Did the KCP situation set a precedent?

Does Kroenke see that second apron as a hard cap?

“Not necessarily,” he said. “But when you talk about our starting five, and you understand the rules of flexibility when you’re in that second apron, it’s a real juggling act. We call it, we’re spinning as many plates as we can, trying to keep those plates as stable as possible. But yeah, it was a different exercise (this offseason). … We were excited about the possibility of retaining (Caldwell-Pope), but we also knew that once he hit the open market, it was going to be something that we may have to step away from to preserve our future flexibility.”

In the meantime, back to the present state of the roster. Forfeiting KCP provided a small bit of immediate flexibility as well. The Nuggets were able to use the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Saric, a viable backup center for Nikola Jokic. That was their most expensive move of the summer, but nowhere close to their buzziest.

That title belongs to Westbrook, a former MVP, future Hall of Famer and current bench player.

The post-Thunder era hasn’t always been graceful for Russ. Denver will be his fifth new uniform in six seasons. Twice during that span, he has been convoyed through Utah only for the Jazz to waive him so he could promptly sign with a new team (including this one).

At his best, though, every player in the league understands the jolt he can supply. And Kroenke is willing to engage in a little nostalgia.

“I got a chance to meet him for the first time right after he signed, and as I said to him, I’m very grateful that he’s on this side,” Kroenke said. “Because I’ve watched him kind of tear our hearts out for so many years in Oklahoma City, among other places. So he’ll be a really good person for us to have, both on and off the court, with some of the young guys who we’re expecting to take bigger roles this year. Russ has seen it all, in and around the NBA, so he’s gonna be a big part of who we are both in the locker room and on the court.”

Second apron fears aside, the Nuggets are nonetheless over the first apron for a second consecutive season. With all 15 roster spots occupied, any additions to the team at this point would require circumnavigating other CBA side effects to make a trade. DaRon Holmes’ season-ending Achilles injury granted Denver a disabled player exception worth $1.53 million, but that doesn’t make the first-round pick exempt from occupying a roster spot. To take, the Nuggets have to give.

“I think right now the roster’s pretty set for this year,” Kroenke said. “But you never know. Our eyes and ears are always open. The new rules are interesting, and how some of those trades work once you’re over the tax. But it was an eye-opener I think for a lot of teams this summer, in how some of the teams behaved.”

The Big Honey might be the best when it comes to dishing out bling, too.

Despite our crack staff being in the writing biz, Team Grading The Week believes actions speak louder than all the words on this page.

And GTW is firmly in the camp of backing up your brags.

Is anybody — certainly not anybody in the basketball sphere — conquering both fronts better than the Joker is, right here and now?

The NBA’s three-time MVP didn’t just help carry the Serbian hoops squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to the Blic newspaper in his native country, Jokic purchased Rolex watches for every one of his teammates on the national team.

Jokic’s Serbian gifts — A

The kicker? Those timepieces were reportedly worth $32,500 each. Which puts the Joker’s total purchase at an estimated $357,500 for 11 watches.

Jokic and Serbia won the men’s hoops bronze in Paris thanks to a 93-83 win over Germany in the tourney’s third-place game. The Nuggets star posted a very Jokic stat line, too — 19 points, 12 boards and 11 assists.

The Joker averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists for his homeland, which finished 4-2 at the tourney. He led all tournament players in points, boards and dimes — the first Olympian to ever top all three categories in one campaign.

Apparently, nobody gives like Jokic gives when it comes to the gift department, either. At least the fantastic gesture was one the Joker could afford: The Nuggets center, per Spotrac.com, is slated to take up $51.4 million in cap space in ’24-’25, and $55.2 million in ’25-’26.

If you’re like the GTW staff, you don’t just want Jokic as your franchise centerpiece now. You kind of want him as your secret Santa, too.

Big Russ’ debut — D

Russell Wilson’s Steelers stats after preseason Week 2: One appearance, five drives led, zero points, three sacks taken.

Bo Nix’s Broncos stats after preseason Week 2: Two appearances, seven drives led, 30 points, zero sacks taken.

It’s early, and we’ll know in a month whether Sean Payton won the Broncos-Steelers game, head-to-head. But the coach is off to a flying start in terms of winning the argument. And in justifying one hellaciously expensive football divorce.

Valor’s Friday — A

Love ’em or hate ’em, this past Friday was a pretty good day to be an Eagle.

Earlier in the day, Valor alum and PGA star Wyndham Clark pulled himself back into the BMW Championship title picture by shooting a 68 during his second round at Castle Pines — including five birdies. Later that evening, his alma mater’s football team opened its season with a 31-14 victory over Pine Creek. The latter had beaten Valor in last September’s meeting, 31-17.

Strahinja Jokic, 42, was charged with third-degree assault after a video went viral on social media that appeared to show him punching a man in the face courtside at Denver’s Ball Arena during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The punch followed a “verbal exchange,” police wrote in an affidavit. The fan who was punched spoke with police three days after the April 22 game. He suffered a concussion and cuts and bruises on his face. The fan initially did not want to press charges but later changed his mind, police said.

Strahinja Jokic was charged in late July. He told police he felt he had done nothing wrong because he was defending an older man he had known for a very long time.

On Wednesday, a Denver County Court judge put a protection order in place that requires Strahinja Jokic to stay away from the alleged victim in the case. He also ordered Strahinja Jokic to complete fingerprinting and return to court in October to enter a plea in the case.

The gameday fight is not Strahinja Jokic’s first run-in with Denver law enforcement. In 2019, he was charged with assault and accused of choking and pushing a woman, then preventing her from calling 911.

In that case, Strahinja Jokic pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing phone service, as well as a felony count of trespassing as part of a deferred sentence in which prosecutors agreed to eventually negate the trespassing conviction if he followed court rules for unsupervised probation and did not commit another crime for two years.

The trespassing charge was dismissed in 2022 after he successfully completed that term, court records show. The misdemeanor conviction stands. Charges of false imprisonment and assault against Strahinja Jokic were also dropped as part of the plea agreement in that 2019 case.

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A couple of the older fogeys on The Grading The Week crew go all the way back with KD to his Texas days.

We’d love to say that Durant’s grown up a lot since those halcyon Big 12 days. But if your pals at GTW promise you one thing, it’s that we’ll never lie to you.

If we promise you a second thing, it’s that we’ll give credit where it’s due.

So to Durant, we’ll tip our throwback New Era baseball caps and thank the big guy for underscoring, ironically, why so many Denverites were rooting against their own country, against Team USA, on Thursday in the Olympic men’s basketball semifinal against Nikola Jokic and Serbia.

Basically? Because KD is kind of a putz sometimes.

A putz who at 3:40 a.m. Denver time on Friday got his thumbs twerking from France to “X” this:

“To all you nuggets fans, nobody gives a (expletive) who yall lames believe is the best player in the league,” KD thumbed, adding, “players got major respect for Jok, we don’t worship him like yall do but most are in awe of his brilliance. Trolling you cornballs for rooting against us is apart of the game. Deal (with) it.”

Geez, Kev. Insecure much?

KD’s Nuggets trolling — D

Here’s the loopy part. Durant’s hackles got raised, at least based on his posting time, at about 9 p.m. Mountain time Thursday night. Which would’ve been 5 a.m. Friday in Paris.

Which raises another question: When does KD sleep?

Local YouTuber @SwipaCam — GTW’s cooler kids have met him, nice guy — went to X to compliment Serbia and Jokic, 16-point ‘dogs to the Stars & Stripes, for taking Team USA to the wire.

Durant’s response?

“Where u from?”

And with that, we were off.

Maybe KD was just salty that the Joker netted 17 points, 11 assists and five boards in the semi to Durant’s nine points and three rebounds.

Or salty that Jokic pulled that off with a roster of dudes that featured three current NBA players other than himself, while Team USA’s got an “A” team and “B” team of NBA All-Stars. Also, a load of All-Stars who Nuggets fans have come to really, really, really hate.

So let’s settle this at Christmas, kids, huh? According to a report in The Athletic, the Nuggets and Suns are slated to meet on Dec. 25 — the second yuletide tussle between the two West rivals in three years.

The Nuggets beat the Suns in a late-late-late instant classic on Christmas Day 2022, 128-125. It was an overtime victory clinched on an Aaron Gordon dunk, an AG free throw, a Jamal Murray free throw, and a Bruce Brown steal. And when it comes to Durant, the GTW wise-apples are pretty sure Santa’s got room for one more on his “naughty” list.

German Marquez’s 2024 — F (as in Fahgettaboudit)

We’d love to give the Rockies the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Marquez, his elbow and whether the Rockies were right to test that elbow when they did.

But since these are the Rox, Team GTW has … doubts.

Let’s just say we’re glad they’re shutting things down before the situation with Colorado’s ace gets any worse. Hey, we’ll always have July 14 in New York. Although when a four-inning, four-walk, three-K start is one of your franchise’s high points in a season, it might be best to just forget said season ever happened in the first place.

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Jokic finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to help Serbia claim its first medal since winning silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Serbia bounced back after nearly upsetting the four-time defending gold medalist U.S. in the semifinals.

Vasilije Micic added 19 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 16. Jokic joined Sasha Belov of the former Soviet Union, the United States’ LeBron James (twice) and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic as the only players with Olympic triple-doubles.

The game was a rematch of last year’s FIBA World Cup final, which was won by Germany. Serbia led throughout in this one, building as much as a 19-point lead in the third quarter .

Franz Wagner had 19 points to lead Germany. Mortiz Wagner added 16.

The World Cup win was part a 12-game win streak in major international competition for the Germans, who won their first four games in Paris to reach the semifinals. But they lost their final two, also falling to host France on Thursday.

Germany made a push late in the fourth quarter, whittling Serbia’s lead to 82-74 on a layup by Wagner. Serbia responded with an 11-4 run to push it back above double digits.

___

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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I’m not talking about crowd noise. I’ve covered SEC football. I’ve been in louder stadiums.

But in terms of sheer joy? I was stupefied by Team USA vs. Serbia at the Paris Olympics.

First, to clarify: This was the group stage opener, which Team USA eventually won 110-84, not the semifinal rematch that turned into an instant classic. It’s probably relevant context that neither team was in danger of elimination from the tournament at this point, that spirits were high regardless of what the result was going to be.

Still, my prevailing memory will always be the slow realization that came during the first quarter.

I was there on vacation, not business, hence the elapsed time between attending the game (July 28) and finally sitting down to write about it (Aug. 9), which I’ve been meaning to do as a sort of delayed postcard to Denver Post readers. (I’m not even sure this qualifies for a Lille dateline anymore, but it looks cooler that way.) I was traveling to London for the first time, and the group stage of the Olympics was located an 85-minute train ride away through the Chunnel — convenient enough for my girlfriend and me to go hang out in France for a couple of days.

Anywho, waiting this long to write about an event is almost always a cardinal sin. People don’t want to read about something that’s not even relevant anymore. But I got lucky this time: Thanks to my procrastination, a lesson from France feels twice as apropos to the moment.

Team USA started slow. The Serbians smelled blood, or complacency, it seemed. They jumped to a 10-2 lead. In my section, I was surrounded mostly by Serbian fans who made the trip across Europe. They were ecstatic.

Even during the interruptions in their momentum. Two minutes in, Nikola Jokic committed a turnover. The ball found LeBron James in transition with nobody pursuing him. I missed the slam dunk because everyone around me was suddenly rising to their feet in anticipation. A smorgasbord of European fans — Serbs, French, other neutrals — pumped their fists and hollered and high-fived one another. I was baffled.

Team USA’s second basket was even more rousing: a Steph Curry 3-pointer. As soon as he squared up to shoot, the entire section stood in unison again, thrilled by the spectacle and unconcerned by the ramifications on the scoreboard.

By the time Kevin Durant checked into the game and started shooting lasers out of his eyes, it had finally dawned on me that I was witnessing a spiritual experience for overseas spectators — that most of them had probably never seen James or Curry or Durant with their own eyes. That this might even be their only chance.

Might as well cheer like it, regardless of national allegiance.

I was reminded of those fans and their gleeful recognition of basketball royalty this Friday when I opened Twitter (usually a big mistake) to find people litigating whether Nuggets fans should’ve been rooting for Serbia or Team USA in the semifinal. Should Jokic’s contributions to Denver outweigh love of country? Should the American big men who are Jokic’s foils in the NBA be regarded as opponents again in this context, or should the jersey they wear take precedence? Should basketball fandom ultimately be about loyalty to a team or a player?

I actually think those are pretty fascinating and nuanced questions, though the danger of social media is that they are reduced to fodder for name-calling and general vitriol.

I know people who’ve casually rooted against Team USA at these Olympics — but only in basketball, not other sports — because their default mindset is to cheer on an underdog. The tradition of the American superteam is as Goliath-ian as it gets; I can see how that might eliminate the spontaneity of victory, and therefore the enjoyment. I also have friends who were previously indifferent to Olympic basketball but got invested in it this year, entirely because of the “Last Dance” element for LeBron, Steph and KD. Anyone who’s watched their careers over the last 15 to 20 years can attest there’s an emotional quality to them uniting for the first time as gray-haired teammates. And they captured unforgettable magic in the final moments of Thursday’s comeback, each contributing clutch moments to a 95-91 win over Serbia.

I’ve read social media accounts from Coloradans who experienced a crisis of fandom during that comeback, suddenly not wanting a gold medal to slip through Jokic’s fingers. I know others who had no crisis at all. They were comfortably backing Serbia. Durant himself logged on to poke fun at that faction of “cornball” Nuggets fans — if nothing else, an amusing reminder that all of this is entertainment. It’s not that serious.

So my mind drifts back to Lille, and the Europeans who wanted Serbia to pull off an upset but couldn’t resist the delight of a LeBron dunk. The basketball enthusiasts who wore random vintage NBA jerseys that had nothing to do with either national team. The pocket of my section that eventually started loudly cheering every time Joel Embiid did something good, seemingly for no other reason than to cancel out the boos of the French. The fans of Japan two days later who took out their phones in awe to film a home-crowd rendition of “La Marseillaise” during a timeout, even though Rui Hachimura had just been blasphemously ejected. (I filmed it, too. Felt like I was in Rick’s Café Américain. Catchiest national anthem by far.)

And the travelers from Serbia who were sitting next to us one evening in the town square, eagerly wishing specifically for a Serbia-USA rematch later in the tournament. Sure, that would probably be a death sentence for Serbia, but wouldn’t it be awesome to see Steph one more time?

The most refreshing part of the atmosphere around Lille was the passion for basketball that left self-seriousness at the door. That’s a bigger distinction between the Olympics and the NBA than any rule difference if you ask me.

It’s easy to understand why. The Olympics are mostly absent from our minds until they’re suddenly on TV once every four years. The NBA is a constantly breathing life force, with narratives and character arcs.

All that stuff is enthralling and worth the emotional investment, don’t get me wrong. (Why would I be an NBA reporter if I thought otherwise?) But it’s also fun to embrace the different vibe for a couple of weeks.

Root for a national team or don’t. Cheer for players on one side or both. Have double standards if you want. Don’t take yourself too seriously. There are no wrong answers to the fandom dilemma. Do what makes you happy. Enjoy the basketball, because the basketball has been great.

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