“I’m tired of waiting,” the Nuggets guard shared with nobody in particular on his way into the locker room. “It’s (expletive) playoff time, mother-(expletives).”

It might as well have been a thesis statement for his entire team’s headspace. The Nuggets live a charmed life, boasting the longest active streak of NBA playoff appearances in the Western Conference, and it can cause the dog days of the regular season to feel burdensome. Their annual struggle is to resist auto-pilot — especially at the end of the floor that requires more effort. Combine their human instinct and an unusually contagious injury bug this season, and the result was a bottom-10 defense in the NBA for the second consecutive year.

It didn’t show in Game 1 against the Timberwolves.

In what felt like an upside down start to the playoffs, the best 3-point shooting team in the league overcame a 1-for-17 second half with disciplined guarding. Braun took the lead on Edwards, and Denver held an opponent to 105 points or fewer for just the 15th time this year.

“Which is something we’ve been crying about the whole season,” Spencer Jones said, laughing. “So to be able to do it first game of the playoffs shows the intensity we can play at, and play at it consistently.”

The Nuggets shot 43.7% from the field and 27.8% from deep, their second-lowest clip of the year in a win. They were 15-22 in the regular season when they shot any worse than 49% overall, a sign of the strain they put on their historic offense nightly.

Defensive stops were manufactured up and down the lineup. Bruce Brown was Denver’s amplifier, compiling five steals off the bench in his first playoff game as a Nugget since the 2023 championship clincher. “Some guys might get mad at me, but I think he’s our most effective on-ball defender,” Jamal Murray said. “When he comes in, he’s up underneath guys. He’s not even fouling. And if he does foul, it’s stopping them from getting two points.”

Nuggets coach David Adelman praised him for “toeing the line that you need to toe in the playoffs.”

Aaron Gordon was predictably formidable as the primary matchup on Julius Randle, who never established a groove while scoring an inefficient 16 points. The Nuggets allowed less than a point per possession in 29 minutes with Gordon on the floor.

When he got in early foul trouble, Jones and Cam Johnson helped weather the storm against Minnesota’s offensive-minded fours, Randle and Naz Reid. Johnson displayed his understated versatility as an isolation defender throughout the series opener, forcing Randle and Edwards into tough shots despite mainly taking the Jaden McDaniels assignment. “Trying to bother the handle a little bit,” Johnson said. “Don’t let them get super rhythmic with it, because that’s when guys get comfy and hit shots.”

Nikola Jokic played his vintage up-to-touch ball screen coverage, giving Braun time to recover to Edwards when Minnesota wanted to put Jokic in the action (which was often). His defensive effort has been justifiably scrutinized at times this season, but the context is crucial. Denver’s new coaching regime — Adelman as the head man, Jared Dudley as his defensive coordinator — prefers to play the long game.

Their philosophy from the start was to devise a scheme that could help save Jokic’s legs for playoff basketball. They wanted him hanging out around the paint more during the regular season, despite his shortcomings as a rim protector. They didn’t want him to overexert himself with too much aggressive pick-and-roll defense, like he has typically played over the years to capitalize on his quick hands and high IQ. They’ve put him in a drop more often, or at the bottom of a zone, or they’ve they sought out cross-matches against non-shooters. “I don’t want him having him to go guard these guards on the wings, in rotations,” Dudley told The Post early in the season.

It was all in anticipation of this. Physical and mental fatigue played a factor in Denver’s last two season-ending losses, both second-round Game 7s. The sense around the team this year is that Jokic feels fresh. Adelman stumped for him after Game 1, pointing out unprompted that Jokic “was up (the floor) in pick-and-roll, like, 65 times. I know he gets killed defensively. But man, he’s in good shape.”

And at the center of this “grimy” series-opening win was Braun, who shouldered the Ant matchup that he’s grown all too familiar with in recent years. Edwards led the Timberwolves in scoring (22), but he looked nothing like his usual self in a labored 7-for-19 performance. Part of that may have been due to lingering runner’s knee; he had an opportunity to attack Murray in space on a late fourth-quarter possession, but as the Nuggets loaded up with help behind Murray, Edwards settled for a deep 3-point attempt instead of driving and kicking to an open teammate.

Part of it was Braun, who has the liberty to switch strategies on his own from possession to possession, Adelman said. The fourth-year guard, who turned 25 the day before the playoffs, has been growing more comfortable playing on his left ankle in the second half of the season. It still gets swollen and requires extra postgame treatment, residual effects of the ligament damage caused by a severe sprain last November.

“I thought CB was great,” Adelman said. “He’s guarding one of the best players in the world. … With Ant, you have to have somebody guarding him that will change up their own coverages sometimes. Take responsibility to not give him the same look every time. … You can trust CB that what he’s doing, there’s a reason for it. I realized this last year in the playoffs, when he really had an enormous role guarding the better players with (James) Harden then on to Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). You can trust him. Not all players are like that.”

Braun emerged as one of the Nuggets’ best Ant defenders during the 2024 playoffs, when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled in the matchup. He left Denver in free agency that offseason, leaving a job opening in the starting lineup. Braun seized it, becoming the team’s lead defensive guard. He’s taken on most of the NBA’s premiere ball-handlers over the last two years, experiencing ups and downs as an over-screen defender in pick-and-roll. But he has grown accustomed to the mental resilience it takes to guard superstars in a league where good offense tends to trump good defense. He’s startlingly honest when he feels an opponent “kicked my (butt),” as Harden did in Game 1 of the playoffs last season.

“It was probably his best game of the series,” Braun recalled Saturday. “Then I kind of learned and I adjusted. I think in Game 7, obviously we took care of business and did a really good job on him. I think as the series went on, we kept me on him more and more. … I’m gonna learn what Ant does throughout the series, and it’s a series for a reason.”

Which is all to say, Braun and the Nuggets know they’re in no place to take a victory lap after one game of good defense.

Harden had 32 points and 11 assists in that Game 1. He fizzled out by Game 7, scoring seven points on eight shots.

The opposite trajectory is just as feasible, if Braun allows Edwards to get too comfortable on his knee as this series develops.

“Just be annoying the whole game,” Jokic said.

The entire roster took that edict to heart in Game 1, and the Timberwolves buckled under the pressure. McDaniels shoved Jokic in the back and picked up a dead ball technical foul. Randle failed to hustle back into the play after Denver snatched an offensive rebound on a 45-foot heave with two minutes left. Gordon punished him for his poor effort by getting wide open for a dunk. Then Randle committed two frustration fouls in an 11-second span as the game spiraled out of control for Minnesota. Wolves coach Chris Finch criticized his team’s lack of composure.

It stemmed from a Denver defense that had been hibernating for months, counting on its ability to suddenly jolt awake in April. It’s a risky blueprint, but it worked in Game 1.

“They tried to bully us a little bit in the front. We knew that was gonna happen. That’s how this team tries to get under our skin,” Jones said. “So for us to match it from beginning to end and never give in, and see them be the ones to kind of complain to the refs more than we were — it shows how focused we were.”

Nuggets vs. Timberwolves matchups: Who has the edge?

�վ���������ɴDZ������:��115.6 offensive rating (13th), 112.5 defensive rating (8th), 3.1 net (10th).

���ܲ�����ٲ�:��121.2 offensive rating (1st), 116.0 defensive rating (21st), 5.2 net (7th).

Backcourt

Anthony Edwards and Jamal Murray are better players than they were in 2024. They’ve both increasingly embraced the 3-point line to great effect. Murray launched 127 more than his previous career-high this season, shooting 43.5% clip on 7.5 attempts per game. He’ll likely be rewarded with his first All-NBA nod. Edwards is 39.6% on 9.5 attempts per game over the last two years, up from 35.3% on 7.4 in the first four of his career. Nobody on earth craves the ball more than him. He’s the cockiest player in the NBA and arguably one of the five best. Pick-and-roll pull-up 3s have become one of his favorite shots to hunt — especially against teams that struggle with screen navigation like Denver.

How Edwards and Murray are guarded could evolve over the course of the series. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was Denver’s primary perimeter defender in 2024. He’s long gone. Christian Braun has been inconsistent at keeping Edwards in front of him, but he’s likely to start games with the assignment. Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Spencer Jones or Peyton Watson (if he’s healthy) could take shifts. The case for a Minnesota upset starts with the Nuggets being a bad 1-on-1 defensive team. They’ll likely have to send two to Edwards and find creative ways to force the ball out of his hands without compromising their 3-on-4 defense behind the double. Their zone will probably make an appearance at some point, with two at the top magnetized to Ant. Blitzing him on ball screens will test his capability — and just as importantly, his willingness — to make the right read out of the advantage he creates.

Murray is the more advanced playmaker of the two, and he has the benefit of sharing the court with an offensive weapon who demands even more attention than him. But if he’s bringing the ball up, he should expect the Timberwolves to replicate their full-court pressure that caused him so many headaches in 2024.

More likely, the Nuggets will run plenty of sets with him coming off pin-downs and other screens to catch in the flow of their half-court offense, sparing him from the burden of initiating every possession. Murray can breathe a sigh of relief that Nickeil Alexander-Walker left Minnesota for greener pastures in free agency last summer, diminishing the Wolves’ on-ball defensive firepower. Their matchup choices will be fascinating here. Two years ago, Ant often guarded Murray himself and was up to the challenge. His commitment to defense has fluctuated throughout this season (understandable when you’re also the team’s offensive engine). Is he prepared to handle a healthier, more polished Blue Arrow? Or is that a job for Jaden McDaniels alone?

Minnesota’s de facto Alexander-Walker replacement is Ayo Dosunmu, a brilliant trade deadline acquisition who thrives in transition, shoots 44% from deep and could also guard Murray off the bench — if he doesn’t get moved into the starting lineup at some point. Both teams have a veteran, sharpshooting two-guard with a fiery competitive edge. It’s 82-game starter Donte DiVincenzo for Minnesota; it’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate Tim Hardaway Jr. for Denver. Either of these guys could pop off and steal a game for their team at some point in this series.

But so much of this rivalry comes down to Ant, as compelling a Nuggets villain as any. “I think there’s a lot of rivalries in the league right now,” he said Wednesday, “and me and Denver is one them.” For the sake of great television, here’s hoping his recent knee injury doesn’t become a storyline in this series. Who has the edge? Timberwolves.

Frontcourt

This is the first playoff clash between the Nuggets and Timberwolves since the latter swapped out a pretty important variable in its frontcourt — Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle (and DiVincenzo). The surprise blockbuster trade has aged confusingly for Minnesota and New York. Both teams went to the conference finals in 2025. Yet both players have a particular knack for getting their fan bases worked up by their flaws and inconsistencies.

Randle built a decent All-Star candidacy for himself early this season, but struggled at both ends in the second half. He’s 29.9% from 3-point range since Jan. 1. When he and Rudy Gobert are both on the floor, Minnesota’s spacing can get wonky if Randle doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Those lineups risk giving the Nuggets an easy out when they want to defend Edwards aggressively. Over the years, they’ve been more than happy to leave Gobert — a notoriously clunky offensive center — wide open on the short roll. If they’re also willing to ignore Randle on the perimeter, his off-the-catch shooting could become a pressure point in the matchup. KAT’s deadeye 3-point shooting and Gobert’s defensive acumen complemented each other beautifully when Minnesota eliminated Denver two years ago.

Randle is dangerous with the ball, though. Where he’s an upgrade from KAT is in his ability to hunt mismatches and attack smaller defenders. Gordon will guard him for the vast majority of this series and might even mirror minutes, but if the Nuggets try to put him on Edwards at any point, they don’t have great secondary options for Randle. (Zeke Nnaji might be their best bet, but he’s highly unlikely to see the court unless Denver is in foul trouble.) Watson doesn’t have enough strength to hold his ground against the 6-foot-9 power forward. Braun might be to size up to him occasionally, but not probably consistently enough for Denver to give up a switch every time. Could David Adelman test out Jones? It would be a tough assignment for a former two-way player who’s coming off a hamstring injury as he prepares for his first career playoff minutes.

As weird as it sounds, defense might be where the Wolves miss KAT most in this matchup. (This is where Nikola Jokic’s name is finally uttered.) Two years ago, Towns was their primary defender on Jokic, allowing Gobert to roam as a help-side rim protector. KAT is rather famously not known for his defense, but his ability to rise to the occasion and match Jokic’s physicality throughout that series was a remarkable feat, allowing Gobert to do what he does best. It was a huge reason the Timberwolves advanced.

Randle is nowhere near as viable in that scheme, in part because he gives up multiple inches to Jokic, unlike Towns. “Probably gotta call God and talk to him for a little bit and ask him for a few favors,” Randle said this week when asked about how to guard the three-time MVP center. Jokic is averaging 35.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 10.4 assists in eight games against Minnesota since the KAT trade, shooting 62.1% from the field. Randle and Gobert played in all eight. How often will the Wolves want to try the Randle matchup arrangement? How long will they be willing to stick with it? Gobert is an all-time defender, but if he has to guard Jokic straight up, Jokic typically finds ways to win that battle as well (and Minnesota tends to double-team his post-ups less than other teams do).

One of the most effective strategies against Jokic around the NBA has been to front him with a smaller player who can get away with more contact. (See Alex Caruso, Game 7 in Oklahoma City.) The Timberwolves could try that with a scrappy guard like DiVincenzo, a lanky athletic wing like McDaniels, or even with veteran forward Kyle Anderson, a buyout acquisition who was also pursued by Denver. Adelman predicted Edwards could try to guard Jokic at some point. Whichever way the Wolves configure their matchups, their help defense will be coming from Braun this year instead of Gordon, who has evolved into a lethal spot-up shooter since 2024. Braun regressed to 30% from 3-point range this season while battling an ankle injury. He’ll be the disregarded role player if and when Rudy roams. Minnesota is more likely to stay home on Cam Johnson, whether it’s McDaniels matching up — he’s the best perimeter defender in this series — or DiVincenzo. Who has the edge? Nuggets.

Bench depth

Both coaches will have to gauge how deep they want to go into their benches early in this series, which could lead to some interesting dynamics. Minnesota has at least two high-level reserves in Dosunmu and backup big man Naz Reid. Beyond that, Chris Finch’s rotation could vary night to night. Anderson adds value as a defender and playmaker, but lineups involving him will also sacrifice spacing. Terrence Shannon Jr. or ex-Nugget Bones Hyland could be used as a sparkplug if Minnesota needs scoring. Mike Conley is a veteran with Finch’s supreme trust; his ability to eat minutes could be tested.

When the Nuggets are healthy, they have known entities off their bench in Watson, Hardaway and Brown, though their trust in Watson as a ball-handler might be tested in these playoffs. The backup center minutes will be a fascinating element of this series in particular. If the Wolves make sure Reid is on the court whenever Jokic isn’t, they might be able to take away Jonas Valanciunas completely. Reid can pick-and-pop teams to death, and the easiest way to guard him on the perimeter might be with a more switchable lineup, using Jones at the five. On the other hand, if the Nuggets want to force the issue, they could try to get Valanciunas a few minutes against Gobert, though that might mean altering Jokic’s sub pattern. Julian Strawther is Denver’s Shannon equivalent — a young guard who’s probably out of the rotation but capable of changing a game if he gets hot. Who has the edge? Timberwolves — until Watson and Jones are cleared.

— Bennett Durando, The Denver Post

Nuggets vs. Timberwolves: 5 storylines to watch

Frenemies: Channels of communication are wide open between these two franchises, based on their hiring practices. Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly left Denver for Minnesota in 2022, taking front-office employees like Jon Wallace with him. Wallace left the Wolves last summer for the co-general manager job back in Denver. Both head coaches have been assistants for the other team. And don’t forget Minnesota guard Bones Hyland, who the Nuggets once traded in an addition-by-subtraction deadline move the year they won the title.

The end of the trilogy: The Nuggets took down Minnesota in 2023, beginning their road to the first championship in franchise history. It was only a five-game first-round series, but the seeds of begrudging respect were nonetheless planted, as Bruce Brown described it as the toughest series Denver had played. The Wolves got payback in 2024 with a 20-point second-half comeback to win Game 7 at Ball Arena. Eight current Denver players were on that team. They haven’t forgotten the sting.

The beginning of the road: The Nuggets are facing a nightmarish path to the NBA Finals, with arguably the three best teams in the West (other than themselves) standing in their way. First, it’s Minnesota. Second and third, barring upsets, are San Antonio and Oklahoma City. If Denver can somehow get through this series efficiently, it would do wonders for the team’s stamina and health going forward. Game 7s are likely in store eventually if the Nuggets are going to pull off a run for the ages.

Rudy vs. Joker: This is the fourth playoff clash between them, dating back to Gobert’s time in Utah. Way back then in the 2020 bubble, a memorable first-round series ended with Jokic scoring a beautiful hook shot over Gobert to give Denver the lead for good with 27 seconds left in Game 7. “I like his humility,” Gobert said this week. “I think he’s someone that doesn’t really care about the outside noise. He’s just here to show up, help his team win and go home. I like that. I respect that.” Jokic hates to admit it, but his eyes often light up at the opportunity to prove the best offense is superior to the best defense. The Joker vs. Rudy post-ups will be highlights in this series, one way or the other.

Wild card Watson: Peyton Watson’s lack of a contract extension has loomed over his breakout fourth season. He’s entering a crucial playoff run now that should be significant in determining his value as a restricted free agent this summer. But a suddenly gimpy right hamstring stands between him and the spotlight right now. He missed 25 of Denver’s last 30 regular-season games after suffering a grade two strain on Feb. 4. It’s been more than two weeks since he last played, and Denver still has some anxiety about his status. If and when he’s able to return, he may have to find ways to be impactful that don’t appear on the stat sheet. His on-ball and help-side defense will be invaluable to the Nuggets if they’re going to make a deep run.

Nuggets vs. Timberwolves series predictions

Bennett Durando, Nuggets beat writer: I’ve got too much respect for Ant, and too much lingering skepticism about Denver’s point-of-attack defense, to predict a short series. But two years after the Wolves danced on Denver’s grave, I think the Nuggets return the favor. This one ends in Minnesota’s house. Nuggets in six.

Troy Renck, sports columnist: This is a real rivalry. Since 2022, counting the regular and postseason, the teams are 14-14 over 28 games. But Minnesota is no longer the boogeyman. Anthony Edwards is a human highlight, but has not been healthy. He might steal a game. He is not swiping a series. The Nuggets will win the offensive boards, and even if Christian Braun struggles from 3 when dared to shoot, Minnesota will have no answer for Nikola Jokic. As is always the case when these two play. Nuggets in six.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Keep those rosary beads handy whenever Aaron Gordon grabs his hammy. The Nuggets didn’t have Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown or Tim Hardaway Jr. in the 2024 conference finals — and Hardaway has been a quiet thorn in the side of Minnesota defenders for years. This is why you got ’em. Nobody can really guard Anthony Edwards when he wants it. Same for Nikola Jokic. If the Nuggets get more offense from THEIR wings than Minnesota gets from Gobert/Randle, they’ll be good. Ant-Man says the Wolves sandbagged the regular season. Prove it. Nuggets in seven.

Luca Evans, sports reporter: Anthony Edwards has hit the peak of flame-throwing powers like never before seen in 2025-26, which puts somewhat suspect Denver perimeter defense under massive stress. The Timberwolves have an ascending Jaden McDaniels to toss at Jamal Murray, and rotational options at center with all-time-great defender Rudy Gobert and sixth man Naz Reid. But the Nuggets have finally unlocked their late-game flow across this 12-game winning streak, and are ready for revenge in Minnesota. Nuggets in seven. 

Nate Peterson, sports editor: The fix for the Nuggets’ Ant problem? Too much offense and just enough defense to win the 2026 Tim Connelly Bowl. Denver has reeled off 12 straight wins entering the playoffs, and with Aaron Gordon healthy and Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson likely available to start this series, Minnesota will avoid a sweep but won’t push this thing the distance. The Nuggets’ starting five with AG has obliterated opponents all season long with a +12.5 net rating. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s starting five with a less explosive Ant-Man has limped to the finish line with only a +0.1 net rating since the All-Star break. Nuggets in five. 

The Nuggets somehow, someway, boast a 35-20 record at the All-Star break. Despite a training room that triggers claustrophobia. Despite missing three-time MVP Nikola Jokic for four weeks. Despite Aaron Gordon playing in 23 games. Despite Christian Braun and Cam Johnson being sidelined for half the season.

What a ride.

What a waste.

The time away offers the Nuggets a chance to exhale. But when they return, their season will be summed up with a sigh without significant improvement.

Hate to break it to you, but the Nuggets are once again bad on defense.

With first-year coach David Adelman pulling the right levers, the Nuggets went 10-6 without Jokic. They sit third in the Western Conference.

They delivered inspiring wins at Boston and Philadelphia.

But it will not work in the playoffs.

They have 20 road wins, tied for the most in the NBA.

But they can’t beat the Cavaliers and Lakers at home?

Through 55 games, the Nuggets have raised the floor, but the ceiling threatens to remain the same.

What gives? Why the pessimism?

The Nuggets rank 24th in overall defensive rating, 29th in the clutch and they don’t force turnovers.

And you thought the Broncos were the only team that struggled to get takeaways? The Thunder have already lost as many games this season (14) as they did a year ago. Nobody in the East creates fear.

What an opportunity. What a miss.

For everything that has gone right — Jamal Murray turning into Jamall-star, the blossoming of Peyton Watson, the improvement of Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther — there is a reason to wince.

The Nuggets have the best offense, and struggle to get stops. The NBA marveled as Denver held it together with chicken wire and duct tape without as many as four starters.

Meanwhile, those of us who predicted them to win the NBA championship — my hand is raised — wonder if another Jokic-in-his-prime season will end in disappointment.

Even the recently out-of-sync Jokic — he is averaging 4.4 turnovers per game since he returned, and has 19 over this past three games — remains inevitable offensively. And Murray has found consistency from the first bell.

But for the Nuggets to contend for another title, they must lock up opponents.

Where’s Pat Surtain II when you need him?

For all the hand-wringing over the urgency to win with the best player in the world, the Nuggets’ fate will be determined by Gordon, Watson, Braun, Bruce Brown and Spencer Jones.

Gordon is the piece that makes the puzzle fit. He can guard forwards and centers, versatility that becomes critical as half-court possessions become more central to playoff outcomes. Whether he can remain in the lineup for 16 postseason wins is a concern given his litany of calf and hamstring issues. His resume is so thick, however, that he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Watson is young. His hamstring will be fine. The Nuggets need his length on the perimeter. It does not require squinting to see Denver falling in seven games in the second round again if they don’t defend 3-pointers better. Watson is part of that solution.

Braun is critical. When the Nuggets won it all in 2023, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a menace capable of clinging to a top shooting guard like lint. Braun has shown the ability to be a strong on-ball defender, but can he trust his ankle this spring?

Early returns screamed no. The last three games suggest the arrow is pointing up.

Brown and Jones are reliable. Brown will dig in against the best and let the world know about it. Jones provides energy and effort that jump off the screen. The Nuggets are slow-playing converting Jones from a two-way to a standard contract because of the All-Star break and the player working his way through a concussion.

The idea that the Nuggets’ title bid hinges on Jones sounds absurd. It is not. He does not have to be a factor every night. But he will likely have to steal a game with a steal or two.

If the Nuggets don’t at least reach the NBA Finals, it would represent a bigger missed opportunity than the Broncos falling to the Patriots in the AFC Championship. At least the Broncos had an excuse. No Bo Nix and a coach who forgot to kick.

The Nuggets have leaned on injuries to provide cover for all flaws and mistakes. Just wait until everyone returns. But that misses the point.

It is not about getting the band back together. It is about playing with purpose on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets were a mess defensively last season, leaving former coach Michael Malone to rip them so viciously after a loss at Portland that I figured the coach knew he was going to be fired or wanted to be.

Compromised rotations or not, the Nuggets are not any better this season.

We can all come up with reasons why the Nuggets have not returned to their 2023 heights — too tired, too much drama, too few bench players.

The mitigation needs to stop. This team was built to win big.

Adelman, an offensive genius, needs his team to play defense like it means it. Like it matters.

You see where this is going, right? With Jokic back, the other guys have to have his back. They need to play like they did without him, by getting in front of guys, switching and producing turnovers.

Because one thing is becoming clear. If the Nuggets don’t reach their goals, there will be no defending them.

Nikola Jokic registered his 20th triple-double of the season with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, though he also was responsible for nine turnovers two days after he committed seven in a loss to Cleveland.

The Nuggets (35-20) got a balanced effort down the roster. Jamal Murray went for 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists. After he and Jokic were honored pregame as NBA All-Stars in a brief ceremony with co-general manager Ben Tenzer, Murray knocked down a pair of free throws to clinch the win with 12 seconds left. Former Nuggets starter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had missed off the back of the iron on a potential game-tying 3-point attempt moments earlier.

Christian Braun added 14 points, seven boards and six assists in a performance that coach David Adelman described as “amazing.” Tim Hardaway Jr. posted a 7-for-8 shooting night off the bench for 21 points and closed the game for the second time this week. He gave Denver the lead for good on a 3-ball with 3:36 to go.

Adelman on Spencer Jones’ contract situation

The Nuggets went into the All-Star break without converting Spencer Jones from a two-way to a standard contract, a delay partially caused by the concussion Jones suffered last week in New York, Adelman acknowledged Wednesday.

Jones’ salary and cap hit will be prorated for the rest of the season based on the day he signs, meaning the longer Denver’s front office waits to finalize a deal with him, the more money the Nuggets will have left over to pursue another player for their 15th roster spot. They will sign a 15th only if they’re able to stay under the luxury tax, according to multiple league sources. They currently have $1.8 million in room to delegate between Jones and someone on the buyout market.

Jones is ineligible to resume playing until his contract is converted. He was officially ruled out due to concussion protocol an hour before the game on Wednesday, but the 24-year-old wing was able to watch from the home bench in street clothes. The injury occurred seven days prior.

Denver started Cam Johnson at the four and continued to rely on four-guard lineups.

“The negotiation that’s going on there obviously is being slow-played because of the concussion,” Adelman said. “So the negotiation, I’ve been updated by Ben (Tenzer) and Jon (Wallace), but it’s slow-moving right now. But the concussion thing is real. Probably have more information after the break. Right now, I think it’s just, let’s get him right and then let Ben and Jon and his agency and his people talk.”

The Nuggets can carry 13 players on their active roster until Feb. 19 at the latest after trading Hunter Tyson in a salary dump on Feb. 5. With that in mind, one league source familiar with the situation told The Denver Post that a contract is unlikely to be finalized until after people get back into town from the break.

No lob threats

Lost amid Denver’s blunders late in a 119-117 loss Monday was a final inbound play that wasn’t executed smoothly. The Nuggets had 0.9 seconds to get a shot up after Donovan Mitchell made a pair of go-ahead free throws. They used a timeout to advance the ball and draw up a play, but it ended with Nikola Jokic catching and shooting a long 2-pointer surrounded by defenders.

Particularly notable was the decision to use Jamal Murray as the inbounder, not as an extra option to receive the pass and take the final shot. Asked about that on Wednesday, Adelman said Murray was the team’s best passer for that situation, and “with 0.9, it was gonna be Nikola just shooting the ball.” He wanted Hardaway Jr. merely as a decoy coming off a screen on the weak side. “Nikola started to go early, like he should, and (the ref) didn’t hand the ball to Jamal, which really screwed up the rhythm,” he said. “One regret I have is I could’ve called my last timeout, set the play back up.”

But while explaining the rationale behind that choice, Adelman also shared a revealing detail about the state of Denver’s roster and the lingering deficiencies caused by injuries. The prayer to Jokic (who generally answers them pretty well) wasn’t even Plan A.

“We have a few lob plays in. The guys were all laughing because as they came to the huddle, I realized that there is no person to throw a lob to right now,” Adelman said. “So I even looked at (Christian Braun) kind of like, ‘Where are you at, man?’ He was kind of, eh. So that changed the intention of the play, which is, OK, well Joker can turn and shoot it. He didn’t get a great look, obviously.”

A fully healthy Braun would’ve been the Nuggets’ best above-the-rim player for the original call, but he didn’t want to gamble the result of the game on an ankle in recovery. Denver’s other two options to catch a lob, Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, are out with hamstring strains, illuminating the lack of athleticism available right now.

To follow up on , what are Nikola Jokic’s top five passes?

— Alex, Sloans Lake

There’s probably a longer project to be done someday ranking Jokic’s greatest dimes when he’s a little closer to the twilight of his career. For now, I think it’s a fun exercise to pull from memory without combing through highlight compilations, because you shouldn’t need a refresher for the best of the best, right?

My tweet asserted that Jokic’s lefty, no-look, behind-the-back pass to Peyton Watson in Memphis this week was a top-five pass by the Serbian center since I’ve covered him. It was a completely arbitrary number in the moment, but I think it belongs on the list — again, the time period here being the three full seasons I’ve been on the Nuggets beat. I aimed for a variety of types of passes. Regrettably, I couldn’t single out any one look-away bounce pass in transition, the kind where he “leads the receiver” through traffic like an NFL quarterback would.

Also, one honorable mention goes out to his pass in Miami last season, when he caught a long outlet pass on the run and immediately tossed it backward over his head as his momentum carried him out of bounds. He drew two defenders with him, and the pass hit Aaron Gordon in stride for a dunk.

5. No-look skip pass at the Garden: Jokic loves slinging these to the weak-side corner. And Madison Square Garden just makes everything cooler, doesn’t it? The center caught an entry pass at the right elbow from Gordon, who went into a split action with Russell Westbrook. Jokic’s head was fully facing the strong side of the floor, the right side. His eyes were focused on the primary action, which often results in a slip cut to the rim by Gordon. Perhaps knowing this, the Knicks’ back-side defender was creeping in pretty far to cover the paint. And knowing �ٳ󲹳�,��Jokic was able to blindly catapult the ball over his right shoulder, across the court, between four defenders, to Christian Braun. The 3-pointer was good. .

4. Game-icing assist to Watson: It’s not often that Jokic’s cheekiest passes occur with a minute remaining in a game. That adds some allure to his latest work Monday, the aforementioned lefty bounce pass out of a double-team with his back to the basket. The ball almost grazed Santi Aldama’s leg, but was so perfectly thrown that it left Aldama feeling a draft instead, softly landing in Watson’s hands. His layup gave Denver a nine-point lead and cemented a win over the Grizzlies. Nov. 24, 2025.

3. Touch pass improv in Hollywood: His floor-mapping intuition in the halfcourt offense might be his greatest strength, but Jokic loves playing unpredictably in the open floor as well. In Game 4 of a first-round playoff series against the Lakers, he was running up the right side without the ball in transition. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tried to loft a pass over Jokic’s head from behind him, but the big man didn’t know where the ball was until it landed in front of him. Like a soccer player one-timing a through ball to his teammate, Jokic simply tapped the ball with his right hand, and it gracefully sailed over a defender to Michael Porter Jr. under the basket. .

2. Fooling Brook Lopez: Jokic has thrown countless lobs and no-looks from the paint to Gordon on the baseline. It’s the diagram for many of his best passes. This one is twice as good in slow motion because of how thoroughly Jokic wrong-foots Lopez, a generational defender who was roaming the back line for Milwaukee. Jokic drove into Kyle Kuzma with his left hand, then started to spin the other way, only to flick the ball back over his right shoulder once his back was to the basket. Thinking the pass going to the perimeter, Lopez jumped the opposite direction while Gordon was cutting to the rim behind him. March 26, 2025.

1. The 70-foot alley-oop: Also in Memphis, my top pick stands in for Jokic’s hundreds of full-court outlet passes. This is the epitome of what makes him a historic play-maker — the strength and precision, the cunning illusion of indifference, the audacity. It was so sneaky that even the Nuggets’ and Grizzlies’ local broadcasts failed to capture the play live. Jokic snagged the ball from a ref on the sideline while players from both teams were distracted by a previous call, and he launched the inbound pass over everybody. It wasn’t designed as a lob, but it worked out that way. Gordon caught the ball in mid-air and dunked it. Jokic said afterward he had never practiced an alley-oop from that distance. I was seated court-side, right behind the spot where he threw it. I was lucky I happened to be looking up. .

At the quarter mark of the season, what letter grade do you give the Nuggets for their record and efforts? Why that grade?

— Ed, via Twitter

I can’t judge them too harshly when they’re on pace for 63 wins, which would comfortably break the franchise record of 57. Let’s go with an A- for now, with points docked only because Denver has lost two home games to inferior opponents.

These things happen in an 82-game season, no matter how good a team is. But the loss to Chicago was especially unforgivable under the circumstances. The Nuggets were rested, and the Bulls were playing a back-to-back at altitude. They had flown into Colorado late the previous night after losing a double-overtime game to the Jazz in Salt Lake City. Then their bench took it to Denver’s.

I do think this team’s best wins are more revealing than its worst losses so far. The Nuggets have defeated the Wolves in Minnesota and the Rockets in Houston — while missing two starters in both games. In the playoffs, how you stack up to those teams will matter more than how you handled your business against Chicago and Sacramento.

Overall, Denver’s offense is elite, its defense is improved and its all-important second star is hooping. Forget Jamal Murray’s scoring — he has 17 assists and two turnovers in the last two games. That’s a microcosm of how crisp the Nuggets have been as a team.

But maybe it’s just Thanksgiving week and I’m feeling the spirit of giving. Ask again at Christmas after a few weeks without Gordon and Braun, and my answer might not be so generous.

I’d be genuinely curious to know if guys like DaRon Holmes would rather be in the G League getting consistent minutes or with the Nuggets, only playing in garbage time.

— Ryan, via Twitter

The answer here is boring, but it’s a mix of both. Everyone wants to play, but riding the bench on a good team and being around experienced NBA stars can be exciting. David Adelman is plenty aware of that.

“The guys that are down there, we have to get them back with us and then send them back,” he said. “They need to get back with the guys, keep a relationship with the coaching staff. If you leave guys down there too long, I think it’s unfair to them as a professional player. So we’ll do the best we can to rotate them through.”

Jalen Pickett has said that playing G League minutes in a system that resembled Denver’s helped him gain confidence. Holmes told me recently that he’s using his time in Grand Rapids to learn concepts that’ll make it easier for him to fit on an NBA court with Jokic. I think most players see the benefits of spending time in the minors, even if it’s really freaking cold in Michigan.

Are there any sneakily difficult matchups you see on the horizon with AG and CB out?

— Madalynn, Denver

Well, it helps that Oklahoma City isn’t on the schedule until February. That’s a bad matchup for pretty much every team, regardless of who is and isn’t playing.

The Nuggets have a skilled and cerebral roster profile, but not as much raw athleticism as some other teams. I think they’ve traditionally struggled more against some of those opponents, the ones that can apply heavy ball pressure with athletic wings and attack Denver’s on-ball defenders with quick guards to open up the offense. Without Gordon, the focus also shifts toward figuring out how to guard star forwards without fouling. A lot will be asked of Spencer Jones and Zeke Nnaji.

The road back-to-back in Phoenix this Saturday is obviously tough. Moreover, I think the Nuggets’ first matchup with the renovated Hawks next week could be challenging. Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (an experienced Murray defender) can take turns wearing out Denver’s primary ball-handler. Offensively, Atlanta moves the ball well and shoots the three efficiently. Jalen Johnson will test Denver’s short-handed frontcourt.

“Negotiations are kind of maybe not my thing,” he said Tuesday at Ball Arena, 24 hours after he signed a five-year, $125 million contract extension with the Nuggets. “Kind of felt like you’re kind of against them for a little bit. But I think it worked out really, really well. I was really, really happy with the outcome. I’m very grateful for everybody involved.”

Braun, 24, is suddenly under contract through 2031, longer than anyone on Denver’s roster as the 2025-26 season gets underway. The shooting guard signed his rookie extension hours before Monday’s deadline for 2022 first-round picks to do so. Denver wanted to prioritize a long-term deal in exchange for a slightly lower average annual value as the team faces salary cap obstacles in future years after the extension goes into effect, league sources told The Denver Post.

For now, Braun is making $4.9 million. This will be the last season of his rookie contract.

“I don’t think it bogged me down. I think it kind of motivated me a little bit,” he said when asked how negotiations affected his preseason mentally. “It was new to me. This is something I’ve never done before. You obviously worry about it. You’re concerned about it. I think my mom and dad kind of were more concerned for me. So I tried to tell them information as I knew it. … You never know what could happen, and it is a little stressful. Like I said, I don’t like the negotiations just because you feel like you’re against people you love and people you care about.

“But I’m just really excited for the way it went down and just really happy that it’s over with.”

Braun heard plenty of jokes and comments from his teammates about the potential extension in recent weeks. Meanwhile, he shot 77.3% from the floor in preseason play, including a 7-for-9 mark from the 3-point line. He described the contract as “validation” and shared that he’s relieved he can go into the new season, which begins Thursday for the Nuggets, with a clear mind.

Last season, he averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, making him a candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in his first year as a starter. Now he’s entering his fourth season in the league with a place in Denver’s core around Nikola Jokic secured.

“That guy deserves every dollar he’s getting,” coach David Adelman said. “… It’s good to see somebody that gets it not just off talent but off work. I think that goes a long way. In our league, sometimes you’re guessing at what could happen down the road, and you’re paying for that. This has been earned every step of the way. The fans, everyone’s seen it. You’ve seen the growth, the confidence. … It’s a proud day for us.”

Braun is a developmental success story for Denver. He was drafted 21st overall out of Kansas and contributed off the bench his rookie season as the Nuggets won their first championship. Then Bruce Brown left in free agency, and Braun was asked to take on increased responsibility as the team’s sixth man. A year later, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope moved on as well, and Braun replaced him in the starting lineup.

Now he’s cemented himself as a high-quality complementary player next to Jokic, and he’s about to be the fifth-highest paid player in his draft class, behind Paolo Banchero (the No. 1 overall pick), Chet Holmgren (No. 2), Keegan Murray (No. 4) and Jalen Williams (No. 11). “They grow up so fast,” Jamal Murray quipped on Tuesday.

Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels also signed his extension Monday for an average annual value of $25 million, but his deal only spans four years.

Braun said that he was keeping an eye on those other rookie extensions, which can set the market for certain archetypes of players.

“I try to keep up with all that stuff. And you see it on social media,” he said. “It’s really cool just to be a part of this. … I think that there’s a lot of players that got rewarded and a lot of players that were worthy of it that are gonna have a big year, and I’m excited for those guys, too,” he said. “So it’s something I paid attention to, but I think everybody kind of has their own race.”

Ultimately, though, Braun’s priority through all the number-nitpicking negotiations was to stay in Denver.

“I got drafted here,” he said. “I never changed schools or teams in high school. I never changed in college. And I don’t want to change (teams) in the NBA. I want to be here. I want to be a big part of winning. I want to be a really big part of what happens here and the success that happens in Denver. I want to be a big part of the community. I want to be around these guys.”

Braun has agreed to a five-year, $125 million extension that will keep him in Denver through the summer of 2031, a league source told The Denver Post. His second NBA contract will take effect in 2026-27 after he makes $4.9 million this upcoming season, the last of his rookie-scale deal.

RELATED: Peyton Watson, Nuggets unable to agree to contract extension, meaning restricted free agency next summer

The extension does not include a player option or team option, according to a league source.

Monday afternoon was the deadline for 2022 first-round picks entering the last year of their rookie contracts to sign extensions. The Nuggets, who begin their season Thursday at Golden State, selected Braun 21st overall out of Kansas.

The shooting guard is coming off a breakout year. Replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the Nuggets’ starting lineup, Braun averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists while often guarding the opponent’s best player at the defensive end. He led all NBA guards in true shooting percentage with a 66.5% clip that ranked fourth overall behind three centers, and he was the only player in the league to score five fast-break points per game.

“I don’t want to be anywhere besides being a Denver Nugget,” Braun said this preseason during negotiations. “I think everybody knows that.”

A rookie when the Nuggets won their first NBA championship in 2023, Braun will be their fifth-highest-paid player next season. The Nuggets are currently set to pay about $193 million in guaranteed salary to six players in the 2026-27 league year. That’s not including Jonas Valanciunas’s $10 million non-guaranteed salary and four other players with team options totaling $13 million.

The second apron next season is estimated to be around $223 million.

When Caldwell-Pope was a free agent last summer, the Nuggets refrained from matching a contract offer worth $22 million annually, leading to his departure for Orlando and paving the way for Braun to take over as a starter in Denver. Caldwell-Pope’s salary in the first year of his new deal equaled 16% of the salary cap. Braun’s 2026-27 salary will come out to only 13% of the estimated salary cap when his extension takes effect, .

Denver’s new lead executives, Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, had the possibility of a Braun extension in mind as part of the calculus when they traded Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn this summer. He was set to make $40 million in 2026-27, occupying a massive chunk of the salary cap that would’ve made it nearly impossible for the team to both reward Braun and maintain a balanced payroll for the sake of roster depth. Aaron Gordon also has a $9 million raise going into effect next season.

Now, with Braun’s extension done and Cam Johnson replacing Porter, the team’s full starting lineup is under contract for the next two seasons: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gordon, Braun and Johnson. Jokic, who has a 2027 player option, could have signed his own extension this offseason but elected to delay contract negotiations until next summer, when he can increase his earnings, team sources told The Post in July.

One of Braun’s accomplishments in Denver has been his ability to learn from and endear himself to the franchise superstar. “The guy’s a winner,” Jokic said last season. “Whenever he makes a mistake, I’m never mad at him.”

They’ve developed a tradition of foot-racing each other onto the court before home games. Braun has observed Jokic’s habits while learning what it takes to be an NBA starter. “When Joker goes out (to warm up) at six minutes (left in halftime), he never misses that,” he told The Post once. “So one thing I learned: I had to go out there earlier. … I had to move around a little bit and stay warm.”

The Kansas-born and raised wing has even picked up on certain Serbian philosophies while working with the same Nuggets player development coach as Jokic, Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic.

“He practices the same way every time. He wants perfect reps,” Braun has said. “They don’t do a lot of reps. But they do perfect reps. In the U.S., a lot of it����ap like, ‘Let����ap shoot 2,000 shots.’ And over there, it����ap like, ‘Let����ap shoot 200 shots, but 200 perfect shots.’”

Braun’s 3-point volume and efficiency have improved all three years he’s been in the NBA. After a 39.7% season on 2.8 attempts per game, the next step will be to earn more consistent respect from opposing defenses — he converted only 30% of his 3s during the 2025 playoffs with defenders often helping off of him.

Still, his overall effectiveness as a player has generally transcended an outside shooting percentage. The Nuggets use him as a cutter, a screener in inverted pick-and-rolls, a slasher and a secondary ball-handler. He’s made strides as a rebounder when he isn’t leaking out in transition, and his 6-foot-6 frame has allowed him to handle tough defensive matchups against guards and bigger wings.

One of Denver’s most athletic players, Braun also amassed 94 dunks last season, continuing to assemble an impressive poster collection with memorable slams over the likes of Rudy Gobert and Brook Lopez.

For three seasons, we have watched Christian Braun grow up before our eyes. From high-energy rookie to solid bench player to irreplaceable starter.

Braun, we can all agree, is not Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He is better.

Former coach Michael Malone bristled over losing Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic. It showed up in all places when he tried to compliment his replacement.

“Christian Braun is not going to be KCP,” Malone said about Braun’s shooting after a game last October. “So I think we all have to understand that, which I think we do, and embrace CB for who he is.”

Saddled with tepid expectations, Braun has exceeded them. He made a case for the NBA’s most improved player last season, boosting his scoring average from 7.3 points to 15.4, while becoming more efficient from the 3-point line at 39.7 %. KCP, by comparison, averaged 10.4 points per game and shot 41.5 % from beyond the arc in two seasons in Denver.

Caldwell-Pope was a stronger defender. But Braun was solid before tiring and working through injuries that affected him on the ball over the final month last season.

The Nuggets are better with Braun, even with a contract extension looming.

After establishing himself as a core player, Braun has put himself in position to earn upwards of $30 million per season. Will that mean a five-year, $150 million deal or a more club-friendly contract around $130 million? Either way, he has earned it.

KCP defected as a free agent for $66 million over three years. Eight years younger, Braun is worth $8 million more per season.

He does not crave the spotlight — a good thing on a team full of stars — but it finds him in the corners, diving for loose balls and finishing in transition. When looking for reasons the Nuggets will win a championship, Braun belongs high on the checklist.

“The little things he does can get overlooked. But he’s the glue for our starting unit. He does a little bit of everything,” said teammate Peyton Watson of Braun, who was recently ranked as the NBA’s 62nd best player by ESPN. “C.B. is that guy. We have all seen his growth and transformation as a player since he came in here as a (21-year-old). And it����ap great to see.”

Braun projects confidence, walking like he is about to dunk on someone or already has. But it hides his motivation, those flickers of doubt, that insecurity that once made him a liability as a long-range shooter.

“Each year, I have to prove myself. That����ap the most important part. Coming into this season, our team is so deep,” Braun said. “Last year, play good or play bad, I knew I was going to get my minutes. This year, that is not the case.”

That is the humility talking. Braun is not leaving the starting five, despite the addition of Tim Hardaway Jr. and the return of Bruce Brown. He provides the Nuggets with a defensive presence if not menace, playing his best in physical matchups against the opposition’s best player.

Braun knows what is at stake this season and where he fits in the equation.

“It����ap a no-excuse year. There are not many opportunities where we have a team this talented and this deep,” Braun said. “We need to try to blow teams out more this year. And that starts on the defensive end. When we play defense, we have shown we are the best team in the league.”

You would never know Braun is poised to cash in on a new deal. There is zero selfishness to his game, no holding back to prevent injury. Since high school, he has focused on being team-first over first-team. It has allowed him to play his role perfectly with the Nuggets.

He has gone from niche to necessity. And his coach believes he is ready for all of it.

“With CB, I really mean it, confidence is a skill. And shooting the ball is not just about repetition and the fundamentals; it����ap about the belief that you can make shots. And he has taken a step in that direction. I think about Game 7 last year against the Clippers, the small little things like that stick in your mind as he gets better,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said Thursday.

“You draw on those experiences, and they show up in consistency every day, the normal games, not just the playoff games. Christian is just a step higher in belief, and it����ap showing up.”

Braun has shown improvement in the preseason as a playmaker and shooter. The days of him needing layups and backdoor cuts to get going are long over.

Part of the beauty of Braun is that he does not need the ball to excel. One night, he will do more dirty jobs than Mike Rowe. The next, he is setting the tone with trash talk or a hard screen, providing that little bit of edge associated with great teams.

“He does things that don’t go on the stat sheet. Defensive plays. Cutting. Getting open. Helping get other guys open,” new backup center Jonas Valanciunas said. “The first unit, you have to have a lot of movement, it����ap a high-passing starting five. He does it all well.”

And has anyone else noticed that Braun has become a leader? He refuses to consider himself a veteran, but in his fourth season, his maturity is obvious on the court and on the microphone as he speaks with clarity and accountability.

He is no longer the kid who replaced KCP. He is the reason the Nuggets are better off without him.

“I am never surprised by what he does,” Watson said. “He is a hard worker — a winner.”

Denver’s two first-round draft picks from 2022 are nearing the final year of their rookie contracts. That means they’re also nearing the deadline — Oct. 20, the last day of the offseason — to sign a rookie-scale extension.

As they convened at Ball Arena ahead of training camp, Braun and Watson both expressed a desire to remain with the team that drafted them.

“There’s no frustration (at the lack of a contract agreement so far). I think that it����ap gonna happen at some point,” Braun said during Denver’s annual preseason media day. “Whatever happens, happens. And I think the most important part is, I need to show up and do my job. I think that’s kind of how I’ve always been. So that doesn’t change. … Continue to put the work in, and all that stuff will take care of itself.”

Braun, 24, likely made himself more expensive to the Nuggets with a breakout third season. Replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the starting lineup, he averaged an efficient 15.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while often guarding the opponent’s best player.

A bench contributor during Denver’s 2023 playoff run, Braun has outperformed his draft placement since he was picked 21st overall in 2022. Now he’s widely projected to earn anywhere from $20 million to $30 million annually on his second contract.

“We have had preliminary conversations, and we hope to kind of build on that in the next couple of days, moving forward,” Nuggets VP of player personnel Jon Wallace said. “He’s a large part of what we do. We look forward to it.”

Watson was taken 30th in the same draft class. While his development is not as far along as Braun’s from a production standpoint, the 23-year-old has emerged as one of the best shot-blocking wings in the league with 181 blocks over the last two years. Watson is expected to remain a regular in Denver’s rotation after playing in 148 of 164 regular-season games the last two years.

“They both have huge roles coming up this year,” Nuggets VP of basketball operations Ben Tenzer said. “We feel like they’re both ready to take a step, and we hope they’re here for a long time.”

Cap space is the only snag. The Nuggets are already on the hook for at least $171.6 million in salary spread across only five contracts for 2026-27, when the extensions for Braun and Watson would go into effect. The second tax apron is projected to be around $222 million. If Denver hopes to stay under that punitive threshold, the front office will have to be savvy about how to delegate the remaining space.

“We’re just taking it day by day. … I was telling Jon not too long ago, I’ve got everything that I’ve ever needed and wanted,” Watson said. “I’ve got more money than I ever thought that I would ever make. So I’m not one of those guys who’s only playing basketball for the money. I’ve always played it for the enjoyment and the love of the game. And it����ap put me in a position where I’m gonna have the opportunity to make some money here in this league. But I’m young. I’ve got a lot of time. I know that I’ll make a lot of money in this game.

“For me, it����ap more so about doing things the right way, having an organization that embraces me as a player and the person that I am, and I think Denver does that. So I’m happy with where we are as far as (extension talks are) going.”

If a 2022 draft pick doesn’t sign an extension by the last day of this offseason, he’ll be faced with restricted free agency next summer — a structure that limits the player’s autonomy in free agency and favors the incumbent team.

Finances aside, though, both Braun and Watson indicated Monday that their preference would be to remain with Denver.

“I don’t want to be anywhere besides being a Denver Nugget. I think everybody knows that,” Braun said. “I think I owe it to these guys, I owe it to the team, to the city, to continue to just approach the game the way I’ve always approached it.”

“I think (the Nuggets) and the Houston Rockets have probably had the best summers (in the NBA),” Barkley, the longtime hoops analyst/icon, told me last Saturday night at Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center.

“And (the Nuggets), they’ve got the best player in the world (in Nikola Jokic). They just needed some more depth. They kind of broke the team up after they won the first championship (2023), and that’s really unfortunate. (They’ve) still got the best player. You want to give them as many opportunities as possible. But I thought they had a great summer.”

Barkley, the hoops Hall of Famer and unfiltered co-host of the best studio show this century, “Inside The NBA,” which moves to ESPN this fall, flew into town to serve as keynote speaker at .

A weekend getaway to Denver ticked off a bunch of boxes for The Chuckster: An excuse to visit an old friend in Chauncey Billups, a window to play some golf at altitude, — a summer academy at Regis University that provides academic and leadership training to students in underserved communities in Denver.

Billups, aka Mr. Big Shot, is co-executive director of the PBLA along with his old coach at CU, Ricardo Patton. It was established in 1996 by Regis men’s basketball coach Lonnie Porter and his daughter, Staci Porter-Bentley, as a launch pad for Front Range hopes and dreams.

And speaking of Denver dreams, Chuck, did the Nuggets land enough lightning for Nikola Jokic to run with the Thunder in 2026?

“They probably had the best chance of beating OKC (in the playoffs),” Barkley replied. “So it’s not like they were that far off. But like I say, them and the Rockets have both had great summers. So that’s all you can say until they start playing.

“I thought, in no particular order, the Nuggets, the Rockets (and) the Hawks, those three teams had the best summers.”

What a difference a new front office makes. Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth gambled two years ago that a handful of young players would turn the same corner Christian Braun did. That they’d morph into a cost-effective second unit to balance pricey contract extensions for franchise mainstays Jamal Murray ($46.4 million cap hit in ’25-26), Aaron Gordon ($22.8 million) and the Joker ($55.2 million).

Yeah, that didn’t happen. Booth and coach Michael Malone clashed, sewing the seeds of contention that got both fired this past April and forcing Nuggets ownership to re-assess. Out of the ashes came a new coach (David Adelman), new co-GMs/vice presidents (Wallace and Tenzer), and, most importantly, a roster-shifting trade that got Michael Porter Jr.’s $38.3 million cap hit for ’25-26 and $40.8-million hit for ’26-27 off the books.

MPJ and a draft pick were shipped to the Nets earlier this month, bringing back a similarly-skilled in Cam Johnson ($21.06 million in ’25-26). That, in turn, opened up cap space for the Nuggets to trade for center Jonas Valanciunas, sign 3-point specialist Tim Hardaway Jr., and re-up with Bruce Brown, a vital, popular cog of the ’23 NBA champs.

“Bruce was a big loss (via free agency to Indiana) the first time around,” Barkley said. “And then they lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (as a free agent to Orlando). Those were big losses. But now they have retooled. Now they can look forward to the season.”

Even better, Sir Charles, continued, Nuggets fans can look forward to better shooting. Better defense. And a roster that matches up better with divisional rivals in Oklahoma City and Minnesota — as well as the Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and Grizzlies.

“First of all, (the Nuggets) got terrific (additions). I think they got more athletic, which they really needed to do,” Barkley said.

“Because if you’re going to beat OKC and the Rockets, you’ve got to be athletic on the perimeter, especially with Durant going down there with those other guys. OKC is probably the most athletic team in the league. But like I say, they got better. And that’s all you could ask for.”