Veteran Forward Believes the Denver Nuggets Have Significantly Improved This Offseason And Jamal Murray’s Injury

The Denver Nuggets, coming off a disappointing 2023-24 playoff run, lost key members of their rotation for the second straight season. The Nuggets didn’t make any splashy offseason moves, and there are questions surrounding their backcourt depth and 3-point shooting. Still, forward Aaron Gordon believes the Nuggets have improved this offseason.

After losing Jeff Green and Bruce Brown before last season, the Nuggets saw Kentavious Caldwell-Pope bolt to Orlando for more money. Key reserve Reggie Jackson was also traded to Charlotte as part of a six-team deal centered around Klay Thompson being shipped to Dallas.

Have the Denver Nuggets Significantly Improved This Offseason? Veteran Forward Says Yes

Denver didn’t do much this offseason. This past June, the Nuggets swapped 2024 first-round pick Ryan Dunn for DaRon Holmes, Phoenix’s top selection. They also signed veteran free agents Dario Saric and Rusell Westbrook.

“Love them. We got better,” Gordon told Matt Brooks of NBA.com when speaking of Saric and Westbrook. “I hate losing [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] and Jeff Green, but I like our additions.”

Denver has been one of the best teams in the NBA this decade. Since the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign, the Nuggets have a 251-140 record for the league’s third-best winning percentage (.642) during this stretch. Overall, the Nuggets have made the playoffs six straight years and have won 46+ games, which includes winning the 2023 NBA title.

Denver won 57 games this past season, tying a franchise record (NBA), to earn the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. After racing past Los Angeles in five games in the opening round, Denver fell to Minnesota in seven games in the Western Conference semis.

Vegas lists Denver as the third favorite to win the Northwest Division behind Oklahoma City and Minnesota. But the Nuggets are tied for second to win the Western Conference (+475) and fifth to become NBA champion (+950).

Denver’s Preseason

Denver fell to 0-3 in the preseason with a 118-114 home loss to Phoenix on Sunday night. The 114 points were Denver’s most this preseason, as the Nuggets starters played the most minutes, with four of them playing at least 30 minutes. This is the first time since 2021-22 that the Nugs have started the preseason with three straight losses. They finished that season with 48 victories, though they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Nikola Jokic turned in his best performance of the Exhibition season, scoring 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting, 14 rebounds, nine assists, and six turnovers in 30 minutes.

Michael Porter Jr., Gordon, and Christian Braun also reached double-figures, and the Nuggets starters posted a +8 plus/minus rating. Braun was the only Nuggets’ starter to finish with a negative (-11) plus/minus rating, while Jamal Murray was limited to 19 minutes.

Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reported earlier today that Murray tweaked his knee on Sunday. Durando spoke with coach Michael Malone about how Murray was feeling. It is expected that Murray will likely miss the Nuggets’ next preseason game on Thursday.

“He told me this morning that he had been feeling great, then all of a sudden last night during his pregame warm-ups, it just was starting to feel a little funny, if you will. A lot of times, he’s able to just kind of get going and play through (injuries), and it’ll loosen up. And last night that wasn’t the case. But up until that point, he’s been healthy, ready to go. I asked him this morning, I said, ‘Where do you think your conditioning is?’ And he feels he’s in a good place.”

Nuggets Struggles

Denver has struggled on the defensive end and from deep this preseason. The Nuggets, who were 26th in 3-pointers last season at 11.7 a game, are making just 10.1 treys a game at a 31.1% clip for this reason. This is unsurprising as Caldwell-Pope, one of the top 3-and-D wings in the league, averaged 1.6 treys and shot it from distance at a 40% clip.

Another solid 3-D guy, Justin Holiday, is no longer in Mile High City. Holiday canned nearly one 3-pointer per contest at a 40% clip.

Despite the Nuggets’ struggles as a team, Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Porter Jr., and Gordon have shot the ball well in the early going deep. Even though it is preseason, Westbrook’s shooting well is a plus, while shooting is what Strawther does best.

However, Braun has struggled this preseason. Braun, slated to take KCP’s place in the starting lineup, is compiling eight points on 42.1% shooting in 22 minutes with a minus-7.3 rating.