Team Grading The Week raised eyebrows and perked up ears a few days back when former Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. lamented the break-up/transition/evolution of Denver’s roster over the last five off-seasons. After the ’23 playoffs, and an NBA title, they lost Bruce Brown, a massive contributor off the bench, to free agency. After ’24, they lost wing guard/defensive specialist Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to another free-agent contract. After ’25, they traded away MPJ to the Nets. After ’26, they traded Peyton Watson to the Cavs.

“I don’t know why they let Pope (go),” “That was the beginning of our downfall.”

Downfall? Strong, but can’t disagree, either.

Were the Nuggets’ postseason fades in ’25 and ’26 due entirely to the loss of KCP?

As usual, MPJ was half right.

As Porter himself pointed out, the Nuggets without KCP pushed the eventual NBA champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to seven games in the second round of the ’25 postseason — and that was with MPJ able to use only one working shoulder.

Now, in MPJ’s defense, there’s the defense. In the two seasons since Caldwell-Pope’s been gone, the Nuggets’ numbers on the defensive end of the floor have started to crater. Denver ranked 15th in defensive rating during the ’22-23 regular season and No. 8 in ’23-24. With KCP MIA? No. 21 in ’24-25,

As for perimeter defense, per NBA.com, the Nuggets ranked third in fewest opponent 3-point makes allowed in ’22-23 and finished second in fewest allowed in ’23-24 with KCP leading the charge along the perimeter.

The Nuggets two years ago slid to 20th in opponent 3-pointers made in ’24-25 — and ranked 18th in 3-point makes allowed in ’25-26. Save us, Dave Joerger!

MPJ on Nuggets’ “downfall”  — C

Caldwell-Pope was the perfect, spot-up, fourth or fifth option for the Nuggets of ’22-24. On the other hand, that line of KCP thinking brings us back to some of the same revisionist-history stuff that peppers online conversations about Christian Braun.

GTW’s hoops wonks tend to pinpoint the Nuggets’ “downfall” to Game 7 of that fateful, second-round Timberwolves series in the spring of 2024. Which means KCP was still here for the beginning of any “fade,” to be fair.

Again, per NBA tracking data, the veteran stopper was considered to have been “guarding” Minnesota star Anthony Edwards for 39:29 minutes over that crucial seven-game, second-round series two years ago. If you read those 39-and-a-half minutes as the stat line for a single game,

Now, Edwards was unguardable for most of that series, to be fair. But given an assignment that falls under the definition of “You had ONE job,” KCP didn’t really do it, did he?

“We still went Game 7 with Minnesota after (former Nuggets VP) Tim Connolly kind of built Minnesota to try and beat us with the two bigs. Because then you can put KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns) on Joker and you get Rudy Gobert kind of roam.

“So they kind of built that team to try to beat us, and they got us in Game 7.”

Sure did.

The Nuggets overpaid for MPJ, just as they did for Zeke Nnaji. Braun is a wait-and-see who’s left much of Nuggets Nation with a bitter taste in its mouth. The better front offices managed to get value from contracts for future performance, not just to reward past numbers.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Caldwell-Pope put up a 112 Defensive Rating per 100 opponent possessions two seasons ago, but that went up to 121 per 100 with Memphis in ’25-26. Braun recorded a 118 Defensive Rating (DR) in ’24-25 and a 120 DR per 100 last year. Not KCP good, but catching up.

Porter at least threw a little compliment to the ’26-27 Nuggets while waxing nostalgic.

“It’s like slowly (breaking it up) … but they still can be called (a contender), as long as you got Joker, Jamal, AG (Aaron Gordon),” the former Nugget reflected. “Deebo’s (DeMar DeRozan)’s over there, Cam (Johnson)’s obviously a good player, CB (Christian Braun) … I mean, they’re still good. But we had some camaraderie (among that championship core).”

“It’s honestly good for you, every once in a while, to get punched in the mouth,” the Nuggets guard told me over the weekend at the , home to his summer 2026 youth camp with Flexwork.

“I’ve said it a couple of times. So it’s good for me to personally get written off. It’s probably good for the team to get written off.

“But like I said, I wouldn’t write a (Nuggets) team off that won that many games and has been there, has won a championship, has done all those things. So we’re excited. And obviously, we don’t really care what other people have to say.”

Good thing. The Nuggets have been taking it in the shorts from pundits far and wide ever since they went over the NBA salary cap’s second apron in order to keep Spencer Jones out of the Thunder’s clutches. Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Jalen Pickett and now Peyton Watson are officially out; Marvin Bagley III, Lonnie Walker IV and now DeMar DeRozan are officially in.

“Really excited to play with another All-Star and learn from him,” Braun said of DeRozan.

“I’m always very confident in what our front office does and the team they’ll put together every single year.”

On paper, the Nuggets will go into preseason camp older than a year ago at this time. Maybe wiser. But maybe not, well, better. And in a Western Conference where Oklahoma City’s roster is still loaded and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama is only 22 and just getting started, the smart money says the Mile High title window’s about to snap shut on Nikola Jokic’s Hall-of-Fame fingers. That Denver’s become Milwaukee West. No wonder CB can get a little cheesed off when you bring it up.

“I mean, we’re going to add enough pieces, obviously. As long as we have Jok (Jokic), as long as we have Mal (Jamal Murray) and AG (Aaron Gordon) and that staff, we’re always in a really good spot,” Braun countered.

“I’m very confident in us every single year, no matter who we put on the court.  With those guys, we’ve got a chance to win a championship, and that’s what we’re here for — to win championships. So we’re excited. We’ve got everything we need, as long as we have those guys.”

The Core Four is the Core Three now, mind you, and Father Time isn’t doing Nuggets Nation any favors. Gordon turns 31 in September. He played in only 36 games a season ago, as one of the bounciest players in the NBA battled calf and hamstring issues. Murray had a career year (25.4 points per game) and landed a deserved All-Star berth, but shot 35.7% from the floor during that ill-fated first-round playoff loss to Minnesota. Jokic became just the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double over back-to-back campaigns, but shot 44.6% during the postseason. He’s turning 32 in February.

The Nuggets need to get younger, longer and meaner around that veteran trio, and ASAP. All of which puts a little more hot sauce on Braun, a two-way threat who’s 25, rehabbing an injured ankle, and entering the first season of a five-year, $125-million extension. Especially with Watson, CB’s pal, getting traded to the Cavs as part of a five-team swap that landed the Nuggets draft picks in ’31 and ’32. P-Swat (pick 30) and Braun (pick 21) were both Hoovered up in the ’22 draft, and eventually contributed to the franchise’s first NBA title the following spring.

“Very excited for Peyton and everything he accomplished,” Braun said of his former running mate, who landed a four-year, $88-million deal from Cleveland as part of a sign-and-trade.

“I mean, every single day that I’ve been in the NBA, I’ve been with Peyton. Every single day we’ve competed, we’ve competed together. We’ve done everything together. We’ve practiced every day together. We’ve done all the rookie stuff together. So Peyton’s my guy. Me and his guys, his family, his friends have gotten close (with me) over the last four years, obviously. And he’s a guy that obviously supported me at every step. So I’ll do the same for him, always.”

Yet as the Nuggets chose to pay CB and not P-Swat at the end of their respective rookie deals, the former has become  for Nuggets faithful lately; You sort of see what you want to see inside that inkblot. The hot take is that the former Kansas star cashed in — Braun’s got a $21.55 million cap number for ’26-27 — only to promptly fall off his ’24-25 clip in scoring (12.0 points per game last season, down from 15.4 the year before), shooting (30.1% on treys, down from 39.7% the year prior) and defense (120 points allowed per 100 opponent possessions, up from 118 in ’24-25).

But there were caveats, too. For one, CB played hurt last season, and everybody knew it. One of Braun’s strengths is an almost sneaky explosiveness combined with reckless abandon — whether sprinting on run-outs, squirting free on back-door cuts, throwing his body into the paint, or rising high to finish open looks from beyond the arc. Braun tore ligaments in his left ankle last November and wasn’t quite the same after that. He missed 38 games. He spent three weeks wearing a boot. Then he dinged his calf in Game 1 of the Minnesota series. He managed three points in Game 6, as one of the most anticipated seasons in recent Nuggets memory ended with a stunning thud in Minneapolis.

From a 2026 lens, extending Braun while kicking Watson’s can down the road looks like an epic blunder that could cost the Nuggets another title in the Joker’s prime.

But hindsight makes Jerry Wests of us all. If someone told you a year ago that you’d only be able to pay either Watson or Braun the $20-ish million it would take to keep them, eight out of 10 Nuggets fans — probably more — would’ve given the money to the latter. Without hesitation.

Basketball-Reference.com tracks a stat called “Box score Plus/Minus,” or BPM — which, in simplest terms, measures points per 100 possessions a player accounts for in a game above that of an average player. Braun put up a +0.1 BPM score or better in 41 of 78 appearances (53%) during the ’24-25 season, and posted a BPM net-positive score in 19 of 51 (37%) career postseason appearances. Watson, by contrast, registered an +0.1 BPM in 23 of 68 appearances (33.8%) in ’24-25 and posted nine net-positive BPM games out of 29 playoff tilts (31%).

It’s fine to fault the Nuggets front office for not seeing 2026 Watson coming. But while it’s OK to talk about ancient history, it’s a weak look to keep revising that history to fit the narratives of the present.

Your buddy with the season tickets might not have given Braun $20 million a year ago, but he would’ve laughed you out of the bar if you’d suggested doing the same for P-Swat last August. And if he says otherwise, he’s lying.

That said, it also behooves Braun to get back on track, fair or not. If Watson becomes an All-Star in the East, Nuggets Nation won’t let No. 0 in blue hear the end of it.

And they need him. Now more than ever. Since the spring of ’24, the Nuggets are 10-4 in the postseason when Braun scores in double digits and 6-12 when he doesn’t. That’s an awful lot of pressure on one left ankle.

“Yeah, I think we’re going to put it in the past, and it’s not something I want to talk about anymore,” Braun said of last year’s injuries. “I’ve worked extremely hard to get past it and will continue to work on it, and (it’s) something that will continue to develop, continue to get better. So I’m not too worried about what other people have to say about it.

“I know who I am and the player I am. I know I’ll bounce back and be right where I need to be next year.”

Wednesday, Katy Winge received a promotion, becoming Altitude’s lead analyst on the Nuggets broadcasts. She becomes only the third woman in the NBA in this role.

Winge never set out to be a pioneer, but as she advanced from studio host to sideline reporter to calling a few games, she allowed herself to dream.

She just figured the opportunity would come with another organization. Chris Marlowe and Scott Hastings provided the soundtrack for Nuggets Nation for a quarter century. They were institutions.

However, when the team decided it was time for a reboot, Winge had options available that she had never considered.

“I was so grateful for the opportunity. But I wanted to think about it and respect those who had given so much to the organization, three people (Marlowe, Hastings and reporter Chris Dempsey) I care about deeply. It was bittersweet. I felt guilty,” Winge told The Post. “I took some time.”

The idea of calling games was a pinch-me moment. A decision like this — life-changing in every way — demanded calling her father, Peter. But he passed away unexpectedly last November.

Basketball bonded the Winge family — dad, mother Cathy, and brother Chris. If they were not watching games, they were watching Katy play games. She starred at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota and navigated a bumpy but successful college career at Illinois State.

Winge found confidence through hoops. And her broadcasting chops through endless conversations with her father.

“They say grief is love with no place to go. My dad was my guy. He was the one who introduced me to the sport. We would talk after every game, about the team, about what I brought to the broadcast,” Winge said, her speech halting at the memories. “He was my biggest cheerleader. He believed in me before I believed in myself.”

Thinking back on those conversations, Winge knew what her dad would have said about the Nuggets’ offer. She had to take the job. If not for the love of the game, then for the love of her father.

While the circumstances were not ideal, Winge was ready. She had earned this seat.

“She’s bold and unafraid. And those are two skills and talents that are hard to acquire in this business,” said Altitude colleague Vic Lombardi. “A lot of people in TV come across as arrogant, but most people, deep down, are insecure. She has always been comfortable with who she is. I noticed that from the get-go.”

When Kevin Demoff, Altitude’s president of team and media operations, went through the interview process, Winge’s name remained top of mind. She had grown as a broadcaster over several years, connected with Nuggets Nation and exhibited a sharp understanding of the game.

The last point became a touchstone in many conversations about her candidacy.

“She was the leader in the clubhouse, and the thing that jumped out was the outpouring of support from the coaches, the front office and fans,” Demoff said. “It is funny, we hear all the time the term elite ball knower. Well, Katie is an elite ball knower. The most impactful feedback we got was from the locker room, how much they valued talking to her and her sharing her knowledge.”

Winge will be paired with new play-by-play man Noah Reed. They are dramatically different from Marlowe and Hastings in age and experience.

The challenge of winning over viewers will be difficult. Sports viewers are notoriously unforgiving and impatient.

For Winge, she has been in this role before, but it is totally different when parachuting in for a few assignments sprinkled across seven months. In those spots, you are the substitute teacher trying not to mess things up.

Her new title provides room for her personality — already seen in interviews and on social media — to shine through.

“There is a chemistry and rhythm you develop in that seat. When I would do a couple of games here and there, I always felt like my best game was my last game. I am very well aware it is going to take some time,” Winge said. “I believe it will happen and that my love of the game will help others fall in love with it as well.”

Working in Winge’s favor are things no longer common among broadcasters: hard work and humility. There was no elevator to this role. Winge worked as a sports anchor in Rochester, Minn., long enough to become disenchanted with local news. She returned to school, earning her masters from Northwestern and found her footing “when working for a team.”

Playing the game at a high level — Winge averaged 11.3 points per game on 33.1% shooting from behind the arc as a senior at Illinois State — is one thing. Describing and explaining it in short bursts is another.

Winge has shown that ability.

“She has an incredible combination of basketball knowledge, playing experience, preparation and authenticity,” said Oakland Athletics play-by-play announcer Jenny Cavnar, a fellow trailblazer. “I am thrilled that Denver gets a front-row seat to the next chapter in her career.”

Winge recognizes that being on the call in front of the camera will put her under the microscope. Ask those who know her, and they believe she has the right temperament to handle it, with Demoff saying, “She is already someone girls and women watch and look up to.”

Winge’s father was her inspiration, her coach. Truth is, even dreams come with doubts. And while Winge is driven to do this job well, to make the broadcasts smart and fun, she wishes she could have thanked her father in person.

But as she finds her voice, his will still be inside her head, forever preserved through messages.

“I can hear him saying,” Winge said, “’Hey kiddo, you’ve got this!'”

DeMar DeRozan, whose 26,711 career points rank 16th in NBA history, is signing a one-year veteran minimum contract to join the Nuggets for his 18th season in the league, two sources told The Denver Post on Friday, confirming a .

DeRozan will make $3.9 million in Denver plus the $10 million he’s owed by the Sacramento Kings, who waived him in July to allow him to find a new team. His previous contract included a $25.7 million salary for the upcoming season, but only $10 million of that was guaranteed.

Now the Nuggets are snagging DeRozan for a bargain — his cap hit will add only $2.45 million to the most expensive payroll in the league.

The 37-year-old wing averaged 18.4 points and 4.1 assists per game in Sacramento last year, shooting 49.7% from the floor and 32% from deep. A lethal midrange shooter and six-time All-Star, DeRozan will make Denver his fifth home in the NBA. He’s played for the Raptors, Spurs, Bulls and Kings.

The Nuggets have been monitoring DeRozan’s situation in Sacramento dating back to February, when they were prepared to pursue him on the buyout market if the Kings had released him then, league sources told The Post.

When he became a free agent this summer, Denver put together a sustained recruitment that involved players, coaches and executives, one source close to DeRozan said. Aaron Gordon and assistant coach Jared Dudley were two of the key individuals with prior relationships to DeRozan who spoke with him in recent weeks.

Miami, Detroit and Cleveland were the other suitors DeRozan concentrated on throughout his free agency process, the source said. He ultimately was most impressed by Denver’s recruiting effort, which convinced him to make a decision based on fit rather than money.

The Nuggets have been searching for more ball-handling and shot creation this offseason to aid Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray — a pursuit that even included a brief foray into the LeBron James sweepstakes. Their need for those attributes increased this week with the loss of Peyton Watson in a sign-and-trade that was finalized Thursday.

After the acquisition of DeRozan, their payroll is about $4 million above the second apron with 14 roster spots filled and one vacant. They carried 14 players on their active roster for most of last season to avoid the NBA luxury tax.

DeRozan has remained durable into his late 30s. He’s appeared in at least 85% of regular-season games for 11 consecutive years, and he’s missed only 13 games combined in the last three seasons. But he hasn’t had a taste of playoff basketball since 2022, when the Bulls lost in the first round.

The veteran scorer has also started the last 1,187 regular-season games in which he’s played. If he comes off the bench in Denver, it will be the first time since April 14, 2010, when he was a rookie.

The Nuggets’ very newsy Wednesday began with news from the broadcast booth. The franchise announced its new team for Altitude Sports broadcasts, with Noah Reed joining the lineup as the play-by-play announcer and NBA veteran Jason Richardson joining the studio team to provide analysis.

Reed, a native of Indiana, had spent the previous five seasons calling football and college basketball for ESPN, FOX Sports and NBC/Peacock. He’ll be joined by Katy Winge, a longtime Kroenke Sports & Entertainment fixture who will take the role of lead analyst, becoming just the third full-time female analyst on an NBA regional network.

“This is a dream come true for me and something I’ve spent so much time and effort striving toward,” Reed said via a Nuggets news release. “I am thrilled to make Denver home and begin connecting and interacting with Nuggets fans everywhere.”

The duo of Reed and Winge replaces Chris Marlowe (play-by-play) and Scott Hastings (analyst), who were let go earlier this summer, along with reporter and studio analyst Chris Dempsey, a former sports reporter for The Denver Post.

Gardner, a Front Range favorite, is returning to Altitude, the company announced. The Denver native and CU/Northglenn alum will serve as a host/reporter on Nuggets broadcasts, as well as fulfill “other roles for the network,” per the KSE release. Gardner spent the last seven years based in New York City as a host with the MLB Network, NHL Network and DAZN, following roughly three years with Altitude prior to that.

Richardson, 45, will serve as studio analyst and as a second game analyst for “select” home games, per KSE. He played 14 seasons in the NBA (2001-15), primarily with Golden State, with whom he won NBA Slam Dunk Contest titles in 2002 and 2003. Richardson will be joined in the studio by another KSE fixture, Vic Lombardi. Altitude veteran and former Nuggets coach Bill Hanzlik will also serve as a studio analyst for “select” games, per KSE.

The new team’s regular-season debut will be the Nuggets’ home opener on Oct. 24 vs. the New Orleans Pelicans. Altitude will carry 67 Nuggets regular-season basketball games this season on both Altitude TV and Altitude+.

At the very least, they needed to make sure they didn’t lose their top priority of the offseason for nothing in return.

The Nuggets are sending Watson to Cleveland for a 2031 first-round pick and a 2032 second-rounder, two league sources told The Denver Post on Wednesday, confirming . Watson has agreed to a four-year, $88 million contract with the Cavaliers as part of a multi-team sign-and-trade that won’t be officially completed Wednesday night, as it grows to include other transactions around the league, according to a Nuggets team source.

Cleveland is sending Max Strus to the Clippers and Tre Mann to the Wizards, while Washington sends Cam Whitmore to Cleveland and Julian Reese to Denver, according to Charania. Reese, who was on a two-way contract, will be waived.

Essentially, the Nuggets aren’t getting any players back, leaving them with two open roster spots and a payroll about $2 million over the second apron. The crux of the deal for Denver is the draft compensation, picking up one trade-eligible first-round pick. The 2032 second-round pick acquired in the trade is Sacramento’s.

By not taking any salary back in the trade despite their urgent championship window with Nikola Jokic entering a potential contract year, the Nuggets have signaled their intent is to avoid an astronomical luxury tax bill next season — and possibly to shed even more salary and evade the second apron. Retaining Watson without a subsequent cost-cutting trade would’ve resulted in a record tax bill.

Watson became a restricted free agent on June 30 with the expiration of his four-year, rookie-scale contract, meaning the Nuggets had the ability to retain him by matching any offer sheet he might’ve received from an outside suitor.

That gave them negotiating leverage when no such offer arrived at Watson’s doorstep during the busiest weeks of free agency. It’s rare for lucrative offer sheets to be extended in the NBA, and even rarer for them to go unmatched. When Warriors center Quentin Post joined Memphis last month for three years and $30 million, he became the first restricted free agent to depart his team for an offer sheet since Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2020.

More commonly, sign-and-trades function as a release valve for teams that can’t agree on a salary range with their restricted free agents. Watson’s camp, according to a league source, was seeking well north of $20 million per year, an average annual value that Denver didn’t feel comfortable meeting despite Watson’s breakout fourth season. The 6-foot-8 wing averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 49.1% shooting and 41.1% from 3-point range.

Most of his production occurred in a key four-week stretch when the Nuggets were missing Jokic, the central hub of their offense. They were in dire need of shot creation off the dribble, and Watson stepped up, averaging an efficient 22.5 points over 17 games. But shortly after Jokic returned, Watson suffered a hamstring strain on Feb. 4 in New York.

He missed the remainder of the season except for a five-game stint in which he tried to return but was physically limited. He didn’t play in Denver’s playoff series against Minnesota, a six-game defeat.

The Nuggets drafted Watson with the 30th overall pick out of UCLA in 2022. He was a member of their 2023 championship team, though he spent most of that season developing in the G League. Denver chose to prioritize his fellow 2022 draftee, Christian Braun, when both players were eligible for a contract extension last preseason. Braun signed a five-year, $125 million deal. Watson went into a contract year staring down an uncertain future.

“From what I understand, it was just a financial business decision (for the Nuggets). Obviously, with the new CBA and the second apron, things of that nature, they wanted to stay out of that,” Watson told The Denver Post at the time. “As a business, you’ve gotta operate (based on) what����ap best for your business. And when it comes time for me to make my decision next summer, I’ve gotta operate as a business myself. That����ap no diss to the Nuggets. That����ap no diss to the Kroenkes.”

“If he has a great year, he can put himself where he wants to,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said before opening day last October. “That����ap what our league is about. You prove it every day. You prove it every year. … He can set his market, and I think he will.”

Watson’s best pro season coincided with Braun’s worst. As the 23-year-old gradually assumed a larger role, he hired Klutch Sports and superagent Rich Paul to represent him in restricted free agency. The Nuggets signaled to other teams that they were prepared to match any offer sheet for Watson, hoping to scare away a market that was already thin. The Nets, Bulls, Lakers and eventually the Clippers were the only teams with the available cap space to seriously threaten Denver.

None of them came forward in recent weeks. As contract negotiations between Watson and Denver stalled, the Nuggets began to explore the sign-and-trade market, a league source told The Post. They felt comfortable with the possibility of an extended negotiation if no suitable trades materialized. The team already has heavy financial investments in Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. Signing Watson for the contract he received from Cleveland would’ve caused Denver’s 2026-27 roster payroll to spike more than $20 million into second apron territory, where the Kroenkes have never ventured before this offseason.

Watson ends his tenure with the franchise that drafted him having played 225 games. He started 64 of those games and also appeared in 29 playoff contests.

After developing from a late first-round pick into a viable rotation player, the Nuggets have transformed him back into a future first-rounder, plus a second-round footnote — trade assets that could be used much sooner than the 2030s.

We said so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, and good-bye to a one-year Nuggets legend this past week, and a future Hall-of-Famer.

Russell Westbrook officially announced his retirement on Wednesday, putting the bow on an 18-year NBA career that featured 209 triple-doubles, nine All-Star berths and seven franchises.

The Beastbrook’s penultimate stop was in Denver for the Nuggets’ 2024-25 season. Which got the kids on the Grading The Week (GTW) team thinking — always a dangerous prospect.

And thinking this, a question floated during one of our infamous 2-hour deli lunches: If the Nuggets could do it all over again, would they have been better off last summer bringing Russ back for one more ride — or reuniting with Bruce Brown?

Westbrook or Brucey B? — C

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. And it’s easy now to accuse the Nuggets of wearing 2023-colored glasses. After all, Brown was one of the straws that stirred the franchise’s first — and, to date, only — NBA title-winners. Brucey B in ’23 was a do-everything-anytime pest who could bring the ball up the floor, finish with a flourish on the break, needle opponents and play defense as if his very paycheck depended on it. Or at least, that was the Cowboy we remembered.

Alas, Brown at age 29 wasn’t the Brucey of 26. Or 27. The spirit was willing, more often than not, but the body didn’t always cooperate. There were little mistakes, tiny miscues, that the vet couldn’t always recover from. Not to put too fine a point on an already-sensitive (and painful) subject, but in the first round of the ’23 postseason, Brown averaged 27 minutes, 11.4 points, four rebounds and 2.4 assists in a five-game series win over the up-and-coming Timberwolves, a matchup the eventual champs would almost unanimously say was the more challenging than dispatching the Suns in six, the Lakers in four or the Heat in five.

Fast forward three years, same matchup, and it gets hazy. Brucey B in the first round against Minnesota in 2026: 19.4 minutes per game, 6.3 points, 2.7 boards, 1.7 dimes. The big three counting stats were all down by half off of his ’23 numbers, in most cases.

That’s not to lay the Massacre in Minneapolis at Brown’s feet — not at all. 2026’s postseason failure was a team effort, a collective dumpster fire from Nikola Jokic on down the line.

Would the Nuggets have folded like a cheap umbrella if Westbrook were coming off the bench instead of Brown?

It’s tough to say. Although it’s also not hard to imagine what Russ might have said — or done — to Jayden McDaniels after that “Nuggets defense” comment following Game 2, a barb Jokic & Co. were forced to eat with a steaming plate of crow.

Although Westbrook’s Defensive Rating of 121 — as in, points surrendered over 100 possessions — during the ’25-26 regular season, according to Basketball-Reference.com, was even worse than Brown’s 117 score.

And the Beastbrook’s jumper, at least as we left it, was very much an acquired taste. And, lest we forget, it was Westbrook’s missed layup on April Fool’s Night 2025 that ultimately ruined the Joker’s legendary 62-point triple-double at Ball Arena against … Minnesota.

Like most of Westbrook’s post-2022 career, you tend to remember Russ’ Denver season as you want to — good, bad, or ugly, it all applies.

The alley-oops to and from Jokic were breathtaking. The turnovers were maddening. Love him or loathe him, there may never be another like him.

Kroenkes cash in on Lucas Herrington transfer — B

While the Broncos released Burnham Yard plans and kinda-sorta hinted the project was inching forward again, the other branch of Denver’s Walmart sports ownership family tree — the Kroenkes — might’ve had the more profitable week. And not from the property you’d expect.

KSE’s Rapids on Wednesday reportedly pocketed $17 million from the transfer of Colorado and Australia defender Lucas Herrington to Hull City of the English Premier League. And that’s just the base number — the deal includes a reported extra $6 million in add-ons, with the Rapids holding a 15% sell-on clause on any profit from Herrington’s next potential moves. What the GTW crew wants to know is: will Stan and Josh pour some of that cash back into a new scoreboard at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park? Please?

How did they get into this payroll dilemma, and which decision over the last few years is most responsible for it? Which contract or trade has limited their roster-building flexibility most in hindsight?

There was the Michael Porter Jr. extension inked by former general manager Tim Connelly, which will end up paying Porter $179.3 million over five seasons. Two front office regimes later, it cost the Nuggets an unprotected first-round pick to free themselves from the last two years of that contract.

Then there was the Zeke Nnaji extension in 2023, a four-year, $32 million deal that proved to be one of the defining transactions of Calvin Booth’s tenure. Halfway through the term of that contract now and six years into his career, Nnaji still hasn’t solidified himself as a reliable rotation player, rendering him almost impossible to trade. The roster’s sixth-highest salary was seated on the bench for almost the entirety of Denver’s first-round playoff defeat in April.

There was the two-year Reggie Jackson contract that used up Denver’s taxpayer mid-level exception, curiously included a player option and eventually forced Booth to cough up three future second-round picks to salary-dump the veteran point guard. And there was the decision to trade away another three second-round picks to move up six spots in the 2024 draft for a non-lottery prospect who hasn’t panned out yet. And the long-term commitments made to Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray, who will make a combined 50% of the salary cap next season.

Now it’s Christian Braun’s five-year, $125 million deal — the first extension handed out by lead executives Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer — that has emerged as the latest lightning rod among Nuggets fans, mostly because of who didn’t get extended as a result. Peyton Watson and Denver are stuck in a negotiating stalemate this summer, while the trade value of Braun’s new contract has been heavily scrutinized following a down year for the shooting guard.

Keeping the band together

The truth, of course, is that Denver’s sticky second-apron situation is the sum of all those moves, not a direct consequence of one of them. It’s also the price that every championship team seems to pay for success under the rule of the 2023 collective bargaining agreement. Just this summer, Knicks owner James Dolan declared “you’d have to be suicidal” to spend over the second apron as his team was trying to bask in the afterglow of a dominant title run. Sure enough, New York let Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency — then watched as the 2025 champions (OKC) salary-dumped three players for the same reason Dolan outlined.

“This was a financial decision,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti told the Oklahoman in a surprisingly blunt on-the-record confession after trading Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins.

As soon as confetti rained on the Nuggets in 2023, every key player who had contributed to the historic scene at Ball Arena suddenly became more expensive. For those who were part of the front office’s long-term vision, their importance to the franchise would show on their next contract. Denver’s margin for error in roster construction shrank to near-zero in that moment.

The Nuggets have been reckoning with that margin for error for three years now, a period in which their contract extensions have also revealed a stubborn (perhaps even admirable) determination to win again with as many of those key players as possible — the sentimentality of a seemingly bygone era.

It’s getting increasingly difficult to keep those players. If Denver eventually manages to re-sign Watson, the 23-year-old wing might prove to be more expensive than just the dollar amount of his extension.

As all of this apron tension bubbles closer to the surface, so does the question of how Denver plans to get out of this before it gets worse. If Nikola Jokic stays true to his word, he’ll sign the most lucrative contract in NBA history next summer to remain a Nugget. Building around that contract and remaining a serious championship contender into Jokic’s late 30s will the long-term challenge for Wallace and Tenzer. If they’re also building around several other expensive salaries, their flexibility will continue to be hindered.

Is a more dramatic roster overhaul looming in the near future?

Pricey pairs

One transaction earlier this offseason was particularly illuminating as a possible precedent-setter. At the very least, it’s a relevant, if controversial, move for teams like Denver to study.

The Jaylen Brown trade.

Before the Celtics shockingly shipped him off to Philadelphia for Paul George and picks, The Denver Post outlined the uncanny similarities between Brown’s status in Boston and Jamal Murray’s in Denver.

Both were drafted in 2016, four picks apart; they’ve enjoyed arguably the two best pro careers in their draft class. Both were instrumental in their teams’ slow and steady ascents from the basement of the league to its pinnacle. Both demonstrated the qualities of a playoff riser as the No. 2 option on a championship squad nearly a decade into their careers. Both turn 30 next season. Both have three years remaining on their current max contracts (Brown’s is a supermax), with no player or team options.

All the discourse this summer surrounding Brown’s impact on winning, or lack thereof, has existed within the unspoken context of the CBA. The argument against him isn’t that analytics view him as a bad player. It����ap that analytics suggest he’s not worth an average annual value of $61.7 million for the next three seasons. It’s a good old-fashioned “Moneyball” case study. Especially with Celtics co-star Jayson Tatum already taking up 35% of the salary cap on his own supermax contract.

“The path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players,” Boston executive Brad Stevens said in July.

And that’s before considering the contract extension dynamics with an entrenched star like Brown, who might’ve believed he was owed another max offer by Boston as a gesture of respect. Trading him wasn’t only about his salary for the next three years; it was also a clear admission by Stevens that he didn’t want Brown occupying 35% of the cap at 35 years old. Hence Boston’s willingness to take back Paul George in the deal — another bloated salary ($55 million on average for two more years), but one that doesn’t carry the baggage of a 10-year relationship, of expectations for more long-term commitment.

George will be 38 next time he’s a free agent, assuming he picks up his player option next summer. It’s widely understood that if he signs another NBA contract, it will be for much less money.

Two months ago, Murray became eligible for a 35% supermax extension for the first time in his career by making an All-NBA team. (His current max contract is worth 30% of the cap.) Will he expect Denver to offer him that when the time comes, and will the Nuggets want to pay that much for a secondary star in his mid-30s? Will they even want to commit 30% of the cap to him for another chunk of years, with Jokic already on a supermax? The Celtics didn’t.

And the Celtics chose to get out in front of it, knowing the optics and knowing the risk. Stevens candidly acknowledged to reporters that his decision could age poorly.

Even through a short-term lens, the widely respected GM did make a salient point about trying to win with two max players in a restrictive system.

These are the two most expensive salaries on every NBA team entering the 2026-27 season:

The last eight teams to reach the NBA Finals did so with their two most expensive players occupying 60% or less of the cap.

2026: Knicks (59.9%) vs. Spurs (41.8%)

2025: Thunder (46.9%) vs. Pacers (60%)

2024: Celtics (54.1%) vs. Mavericks (57.4%)

2023: Nuggets (52.8%) vs. Heat (55%)

Can the Nuggets be an outlier?

The defining transaction behind New York’s championship was Jalen Brunson’s decision to sacrifice millions of dollars on his most recent contract; the Knicks were able to build a more complete starting lineup and a deeper bench with their best player earning the third-most in salary

It’s notable that their highest-paid player, Karl-Anthony Towns, is currently extension-eligible but hasn’t signed. Brunson probably isn’t going to give Dolan another bargain on his next extension. The Knicks must now operate under the assumption that Brunson will be playing on a supermax in the next couple of years. Planning accordingly means playing hardball with KAT — or trading him.

The Spurs have similarly capitalized on a mini-window with Victor Wembanyama on his rookie-scale contract. It gets trickier in 2027-28, but even then, Wembanyama gave them a minor discount. He and De’Aaron Fox will make a combined 55.7% that season.

The Thunder won with Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams both on rookie deals. Now, those two have 25% max extensions taking effect this season, which should suffice as a viable payroll structure for at least one more year. Then in 2027, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s supermax kicks in, and the top-heavy cap sheet gets dicey.

Boston won the year before Brown’s supermax took effect (and two years before Tatum’s). Denver won the year before Jokic’s took effect (and three before Murray’s 30% max). The similarities hardly feel coincidental.

By all of this logic, the top eight teams listed above are automatically disqualified from contention for the 2027 championship (including Boston, ironically). That would explain why Stevens was willing to trade a franchise cornerstone to a rival of all teams. Philadelphia already had a supermax player on the books, plus Tyrese Maxey making $40 million. Now the 76ers have the exact payroll structure that Boston seemingly wanted to avoid. The problem is that they also have VJ Edgecombe on a rookie deal and LeBron James for $3.9 million.

The real overarching lesson could be this: If a team is going to pay two players an exorbitant amount of finite money, it had better be supremely confident that those two players are a perfect fit together.

Of all the duos near the top of that 2026-27 chart, Jokic and Murray have proven themselves more worthy of a combined 66% cap hit than anyone else. They’re the only tandem in the top six with more than 60 games played together. Embiid and Brown; Tatum and George; Antetokounmpo and Adebayo; and Davis and Young are all brand-new pairings.

As long as Denver’s front office remains confident that Jokic and Murray’s offensive chemistry transcends their defensive shortcomings, maybe that’ll be enough to buoy their partnership. Maybe the belief will persist in Denver that Murray and Jokic can be an outlier.

Or maybe Stevens’ words will ring true with the Nuggets, and they’ll eventually feel forced to press the red button on their loyal payroll structure.

The Nuggets will play only 14 back-to-backs in the 2026-27 regular season — three fewer than last season. Their longest road trips will span four games — three fewer than last season, when Nikola Jokic hyperextended his knee and injuries piled up during a two-week marathon out east.

They will return to Denver for a one-game homestand only four times, and they will leave town for an awkward one-game excursion only six times — seven fewer than last season in both cases, enabling them to enjoy the comforts of home more.

The full NBA schedule was unveiled Thursday afternoon, minus two to-be-determined games for each team that will have to wait for the results of the NBA Cup group stage. Here are 10 key games for Nuggets fans to circle on the calendar — excluding the season opener at Oklahoma City and Christmas nightcap at Golden State, which were already announced Tuesday. It goes without saying that those are interesting, premier games.

Tip times are listed in MT. Nationally broadcasted games are denoted by the TV network or streaming service on which they’ll appear.

Nov. 2 vs. Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.

Denver’s home opener on Oct. 24 against the Pelicans will certainly be intriguing, as fans will greet the team in a competitive environment for the first time since last season ended on the road in an abrupt and embarrassing fashion. But the third home game of the year is even more worth watching. Jokic’s pal Micah Nori has taken over as Portland’s head coach, and he’s tasked with finding a synergy between wild card newcomer Ja Morant and franchise icon Damian Lillard, who’s coming off a torn Achilles tendon and should return to the court as a Blazer for the first time since 2023, a week before this matchup.

Nov. 7 at Indiana Pacers (Mexico City), 3 p.m.

Speaking of Achilles injuries, this game is fascinating for a couple of reasons, primarily because it’s scheduled early in the NBA’s reintroduction of Tyrese Haliburton. He and Jokic might be the two greatest passers in the sport today, point gods of the highest order, following in the footsteps of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook. They combined for 34 assists when they faced off two years ago in Indiana. Also, Mexico City is cool.

Nov. 27 at Utah Jazz, 7:30 p.m.

Denver will face the Suns (Oct. 30 in Phoenix), Rockets (Nov. 20 at home), Mavericks (Nov. 24 at home) and Jazz in the NBA Cup group stage. It’s the first time the Nuggets haven’t found themselves in a “group of death” since 2023. And this will be the grand finale, potentially with a trip to the knockout stage on the line, if you care about those things. If you don’t? Utah is still a more interesting opponent than it has been in recent years, with No. 2 overall draft pick Darryn Peterson arriving and Jaren Jackson Jr. joining the frontcourt.

Dec. 19 vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 7 p.m.

Jokic vs. Doncic is always appointment viewing, and the Lakers have reassembled their roster to better suit Luka’s needs this offseason. JJ Redick will naturally be eager to put Jokic in as many actions as possible. This will be the three-time MVP’s first time trying to defend the Doncic-Walker Kessler pick-and-roll, which Los Angeles clearly expects to be a dominant bread-and-butter play for years to come. These teams meet again in Hollywood four days later.

Dec. 28 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

And then on the other side of Christmas, on the second night of a back-to-back, the Nuggets face their first encounter with the LaMelo Ball-Anthony Edwards tandem. Bitter playoff memories could bubble to the surface in this two-game series, which begins in Denver and switches to Minnesota on New Year’s Eve. The Wolves made a big offseason change to their lineup, but Jaden McDaniels and his trash-talking ways haven’t gone anywhere.

Jan. 11 at New York Knicks, 5:30 p.m. (Peacock)

The annual trip to Madison Square Garden, which is not only the world’s most famous arena but also the home of the champions now. Jalen Brunson scored 42 points when the Nuggets visited last season, lifting the Knicks to a double-overtime win. Playing in that game was so fun, Jamal Murray said afterward, that he didn’t even notice when Peyton Watson left the floor with a hamstring injury that altered the course of Denver’s season.

Jan. 21 vs. Washington Wizards, 7 p.m.

Nobody knows what to make of the Wizards. They’re a remarkably strange team, blessed with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft lottery (AJ Dybantsa), yet also suddenly headlined by Anthony Davis and Trae Young. Their mix of compelling young talent and overpriced star power has resulted in a wide range of predictions for their season. In any case, they should be an interesting opponent for Denver to host a couple of weeks before the trade deadline.

Feb. 28 at San Antonio Spurs, 11 a.m. (ABC)

For the second consecutive year, you’re gonna have to wait to watch Jokic and Victor Wembanyama go head-to-head in the post. They didn’t share the court until April 6 last season, due to a combination of scheduling and injury misfortune. But when they finally did match up, it was everything a hoops fan dreamt it would be. The power structure has shifted since then. Wembanyama has led San Antonio to the NBA Finals. It’s his league, not Jokic’s. Until further notice.

March 14 vs. Miami Heat, 5:30 p.m. (NBC)

Denver’s two meetings with the new-look Heat are both in March; the game in Miami is scheduled for a week after this. Will the physicality and rim protection of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins make the Nuggets’ mighty offense look bad? Or will Miami’s utter lack of spacing do the improbable and make their defense look good? A fun subplot here: Tim Hardaway Jr. returns to Ball Arena, likely to the tune of a standing ovation.

March 28 vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 8 p.m. (NBC)

If these 10 games were ranked on a scale of anticipation, rather than listed chronologically, Philly’s visit to Ball Arena would be a pretty obvious No. 1. Where to start? It might be LeBron James’ last game in Denver. It might be Joel Embiid’s first game in Denver in seven and a half years (or it might not be — great theater either way). And it’s an up-close look at the NBA’s newest superteam, featuring Jaylen Brown vs. Aaron Gordon and Tyrese Maxey vs. Jamal Murray and even a cameo from old friend Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. When the Sixers come to town, it’ll be the hottest ticket of the season.

The two-time scoring champion shared his decision on featuring a video narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan where the guard never says a word.

“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already watched the end,” Westbrook wrote. “You had to be there. And now it����ap over.”

Westbrook was the No. 4 pick in 2008 out of UCLA by the Seattle SuperSonics, just before they moved to Oklahoma City. He played his first 11 seasons with the Thunder and spent this past season with the Sacramento Kings.

Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times and was a two-time MVP of the All-Star Game. He won an Olympic gold medal in the 2012 London Games.

Westbrook leaves with the last on March 15. Nikola Jokic ranks second in that category with 198 going into this season. Westbrook also holds the NBA mark for most triple-doubles in a season with 42 in 2016-17, when he earned his only MVP award.

He averaged double figures for points and assists in five of six seasons starting in the 2015-16 season.

Westbrook also played for Houston, Washington, the Lakers and Clippers — splitting the 2022-23 season between the Los Angeles teams — and Denver. Westbrook, 37, averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists during his 2024-25 season with the Nuggets.

Last season, Westbrook started 58 of the 64 games he played for Sacramento. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 assists.