As David Adelman begins to sculpt his bench, he’s hiring one of Denver’s own.
Rodney Billups and J.J. Barea will join the Nuggets’ coaching staff next season, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post on Tuesday.
Billups, 42, is a former University of Denver head coach and University of Colorado assistant coach. Born and raised in Denver — he is Chauncey Billups’ younger brother — he was still locally based last season while working as a scout for the Brooklyn Nets. He often attended Nuggets games at Ball Arena.
Barea, 41, joins the Nuggets after coaching the Mets de Guaynabo in his home country of Puerto Rico last year. The former Mavericks guard enjoyed a 14-year NBA career, winning a championship in 2011 and playing for Minnesota when Adelman worked in player development there and his father, Rick Adelman, was the head coach.
The Nuggets are also meeting with Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley this week in Denver. Dudley has been a key front-of-bench coach in Dallas since 2021, contributing to the team’s 2024 run to the NBA Finals.
Adelman took over as interim head coach in April and got the full-time job a month later, after leading Denver to the second round and within one win of knocking off the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
Nuggets ownership granted Adelman autonomy to build out his staff, and he has chosen not to retain Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask and Stephen Graham, all fellow assistants under former coach Michael Malone.
