Report: Denver execs see ‘challenge’ looming after roster exposed in 2025 playoffs

Depth is a valuable asset in the NBA right now, and few teams likely know that better than the Denver Nuggets following their elimination from the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

The Nuggets were part of two grueling series in the postseason, as they eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games in the first round before taking the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the second round. The Thunder proved to be too much for the Nuggets to handle, with OKC advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

Denver had to navigate the tiring stretch with a pretty thin rotation. Now, the team is reportedly preparing for the “challenge” of continuing to build around Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon despite facing limited flexibility.

“Indeed, of the four teams who are still alive, only the New York Knicks boast a relatively shallow rotation,” wrote The Athletic’s Tony Jones and Sam Amick. “And even the Knicks, with Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride, have two stalwarts coming off their bench. The other three teams still alive go at least nine deep, which is quite the change from yesteryear, when it used to be generally accepted that rotations shorten in the postseason and teams rely heavily on their star players.

“Denver’s brain trust saw this up close during a series where the Nuggets had multiple chances to take control, but simply couldn’t, because they wore out down the stretch of games too many times. The good news? The Nuggets still have a championship core. Jokić was sensational during the postseason and registered two 40-point games in this series. Murray proved that he’s still a playoff riser, someone who is above average in a regular-season setting, then plays at a star level when it matters the most. Gordon, before he strained his hamstring in the waning moments of Thursday night’s Game 6, was playing some of the best all-around basketball of his career.

“The challenge that Denver executives see looming is how to continue to build around those three. As soon as the Thunder forced the Nuggets to dip into their bench, that’s when OKC forged a major advantage, and that was true for every game outside of Game 6, when Julian Strawther came off the bench and scored the most unexpected 15 points of his career. To further the challenge, the Nuggets have to figure out how to get more depth on their roster, largely without the means to do so. The Nuggets don’t have a pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. They are staring the CBA’s restrictive second apron square in the eye, so there is very little financial flexibility. They don’t have trade pieces that have a ton of value, which means scouring the trade market is going to be difficult.

“Denver knows what it has to do, but also that its challenge is easier said than done. But, somehow, the Nuggets are going to have to accomplish it.”

Only seven players on Denver’s roster averaged at least 10 minutes per game during the playoffs. Each of those seven players appeared in at least 13 of the team’s 14 postseason games. But outside of that group, the Nuggets gave limited minutes to the rest of their roster.

Aside from Jokic, Murray and Gordon, the other Nuggets who were consistent rotation members in the playoffs were Michael Porter Jr., Christian Braun, Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson, with Westbrook and Watson coming off the bench.

Denver is going to need to add or develop some more pieces that it can trust in high-leverage games, and one way to do that would be to see continued growth from some of the players who spent at least a few games outside of the playoff rotation this season.

But some outside help would go a long way as well, and getting that done is a task that the Nuggets are going to have to strategize about.

Denver has now been eliminated in the second round in two straight seasons following its title run in 2023. It’s clear that the team still has some championship-caliber pieces, and reaching the second round is nothing to sneeze at, but a team with so much potential has bigger goals than one series win each year.

As long as Jokic, a three-time MVP, is around along with a solid supporting cast, the Nuggets are going to be a team that can’t be dismissed. Denver’s job this offseason is to work on that supporting cast.