The Denver Nuggets have seen their roster deteriorate a little bit since winning the NBA Championship back in 2023. The core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon is still around, but the rest of the depth is all gone and it has really hurt them in 2024-25.

Now, Denver is going to be scrambling to replenish that depth this offseason with some more veteran additions. The Nuggets will have to take that on with a new general manager after firing Calvin Booth along with head coach Michael Malone just before the playoffs.

Adding more bench pieces isn't something that is new to this Nuggets squad. They have known that is the big issue with this tea for a while now, no matter who is sitting up in the front office. At the trade deadline this season, the Nuggets tried to make a deal with the LA Clippers for wing Terance Mann, but the deal never came to fruition for multiple reasons according to NBA insider Marc Stein.

Related Denver Nuggets NewsArticle continues below
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) dribbles down the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second quarter during game seven of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center
Nikola Jokic joins historic Larry Bird company despite MVP snub
Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with MVP award next to Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo
Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ends Nikola Jokic’s search for fourth MVP award

“Booth told local reporters following February's trade deadline that, if Denver was going to make any move, it would have depended on including Nnaji's $8.8 million salary and Dario Šarić's $5.1 million,” Stein wrote. “Sources say that the Nuggets had interest in a number of available players in that price range — Terance Mann standing out among them before Mann landed with Atlanta — but Denver felt the cost was too high. Šarić's player option for next season, furthermore, was definitely viewed by potential trade partners as a deterrent. Booth's decision to award player options to Šarić and Westbrook went down as another demerit on the team's recent roster building in the view of rival cap strategists.”

The decisions to give those options to Westbrook and Saric were heavily criticized by the Nuggets fanbase before the season, and those concerns have been proven right throughout the year.

Mann was eventually attached in a deal that went to the Atlanta Hawks and brought Bogdan Bogdanovic back to the Clippers. Bogdanovic has been a huge addition for Los Angeles and is a big reason why the Clippers have been playing great basketball lately. Meanwhile, the Nuggets are stuck with a depleted second unit heading into the playoffs.