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There are no awards given out during the offseason, but if there were, then the Denver Nuggets would be the frontrunner for the Most Improved Team award. The Nuggets' front office was on a heater to start the offseason, offloading Michael Porter Jr. and his onerous contract to bring in Cam Johnson (costing them just a 2032 first-round pick), trading away the washed-up Dario Saric in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas, and they also fortified the bench via free agency, most prominently with the addition of 2023 NBA champion Bruce Brown.
Considering how it was the Nuggets that gave the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder the biggest scare prior to the NBA Finals, adding key pieces around their talented quartet consisting of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Christian Braun makes them one of, if not outright the best team in the NBA heading into the 2025-26 campaign, at least on paper.
Games are not played on paper, however, and the Nuggets will still have to integrate these new pieces around Jokic. But Jokic makes everyone around him better, and it's hard to see the Nuggets being anything other than a top team in the league with how they fortified the lineup.
With that said, here are a few predictions for how the 2025-26 campaign will turn out for the Nuggets after the NBA released their schedule for next season.
Nikola Jokic's scoring average drops by nearly five points… but leads the league in assists
One could make an argument that this iteration of the Nuggets is the best its ever been around Jokic. They have a complete team, and they even got Valanciunas to commit to playing for them after he flirted with the idea of taking his talents overseas to play closer to home.
Jokic, of course, remains the central force binding this entire Nuggets roster together. They will only go as far as he goes. But considering the talent around him, there may not be as much need for him to dominate on the scoring front as he usually does. After all, he prefers to make the unselfish play especially when it leads to winning basketball, and he now has the talent around him that should enable him to sit back, breathe more easily, and just ping the rock to open men.
Last season, Jokic averaged nearly 30 points per game (29.6), as he needed to pick up the slack amid Jamal Murray's struggles to begin the year, Aaron Gordon's injury problems, and the team's general lack of spacing. The Nuggets finished last season 28th in three-point makes per game, and with opposing defenses collapsing on the paint at nearly every turn, Jokic's scoring became the ultimate bail-out weapon.
Jokic even ended up being the team's third-best three-point weapon even though he's at his best when he's dominating the paint. He made nearly two triples a night last year on a blistering 41.7 shooting.
But for the upcoming season, there might not be as much need for Jokic to space the floor and be more aggressive in hunting his three-point shot since the team will have much better spacing considering the respect Gordon has garnered with his three-point shooting during the playoffs and Johnson's marksmanship.
Last year, he had a usage rate of 29.5; with the additions up and down the roster, Jokic's usage rate may end up hovering closer to around the 27 percent mark, which is where it was during the Nuggets' 2022-23 championship season. That year, Jokic averaged 24.5 points per game on an astounding, league-leading true shooting 0f 70.1 — playing team-driven, unselfish, and efficient basketball befitting of a three-time MVP who arguably should have won the award more times.
It's not going to be concerning at all if Jokic's scoring average drops by around five points. He'll more than make up for it anyway with an increase in scoring efficiency and playmaking output. Last year, Jokic finished second in the league in total assists with 716. He had 164 fewer assists than league-leader Trae Young did.
Young should, on paper, have an easier time racking up assists as well since his team improved quite a bit as well. But Jokic has accomplished plenty of incredible things in the past, and it's not too much of a stretch to think that he can lead the league in assists especially when the Nuggets are expected to click with the deep roster they've built.
Jamal Murray makes the All-Star team
It remains one of the most stunning facts in the NBA that Jokic hasn't had a teammate be selected as an All-Star or an All-NBA player. He has been teammates with a few former All-Stars and even a former NBA MVP, but not at the height of their powers.
That changes next year with Murray.
Murray has had notoriously slow starts to seasons; last year, he was bothered by knee issues dating back to the 2024 Paris Olympics, and it took him a while to round into form for the Nuggets. Murray averaged 18/4/6 on 42/33/79 splits in the first two months of the season, but from December onwards, he put up 22/4/6 on 49/41/92 splits.
With Jokic embracing (and loving) more of a playmaking role for his team, the onus will be on Murray to light it up and take advantage of the extra space that will be available for him and the rest of the team to attack. And this time, it doesn't seem like an injury will be bothering Murray to start the new season.
Expect him to have a blistering start to the 2025-26 season, and with the Nuggets being one of the best teams in the NBA next year, they will be one of a few teams to have two All-Star representatives — with Murray joining his good pal Jokic in Los Angeles.
Nuggets earn 1-seed in the conference
With the Thunder residing in the same conference (and division), it's always going to be difficult for the Nuggets to earn the one-seed in the West. But there tends to be a hangover period for championship-winning teams, and that's exactly what the Thunder will be experiencing.
Of course, this is not to say that the fight for the one-seed will be a cakewalk. But the Nuggets definitely have a bigger chip on their shoulder, especially with a reloaded roster.
The Thunder will be hungry for more rings, but they might err on the side of caution more often, preferring to rest their guys much more brazenly to preserve them for the playoffs. While OKC has a deep team, this could lead to more defeats — paving the way for Denver to win the regular-season standings in the superior conference.
DaRon Holmes II establishes himself as rotation piece for the Nuggets
On paper, one would think that the Nuggets will be running a 10-man rotation, with Valanciunas, Brown, and Hardaway joining Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther as the main bench guys. But the Nuggets aren't about to forget their 2024 first-round pick in DaRon Holmes II, who missed the entirety of what would have been his rookie campaign after tearing his Achilles.
Holmes is going to have a short leash at first, but he will quickly endear himself to head coach David Adelman with his motor, energy, defensive versatility, and floor-spacing capabilities, and a frontcourt of him, Watson, and Valanciunas will have so much size and physicality for opposing bench units to deal with.
He was one of the bright spots for the Nuggets during Summer League and he looks healthier than ever. Holmes is poised to make an impact next year, and Nuggets fans should be very excited for what he'll bring to the table.
