The Denver Nuggets are in the midst of an offseason of change after surprisingly pushing the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the second round of the playoffs. While the Thunder roll through the rest of the postseason, it is becoming clearer and clearer how close Denver's roster is to competing for another championship.
However, after firing head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth at the end of the regular season just before the end of that playoff run, there were always going to be questions about what the Nuggets would look like heading into 2025-26. David Adelman did a great job as the interim head coach and was promoted as the full-time bench boss, and now he has made decisions on his staff.
In a somewhat surprising move, Adelman and the Nuggets are letting go of four key assistant coaches, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes.
“Sources: Denver Nuggets are not renewing contracts of assistant coaches Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask, and Stephen Graham,” Haynes reported on X, formerly Twitter. “They played integral role in securing 2023 NBA championship. Contracts expire at end of month.”
Article Continues BelowAdelman will now have to rebuild the bench behind him with some of his own picks as the Nuggets retool after a rocky season. The Nuggets' search for a general manger is also still ongoing, so it will be interesting to monitor where they land with that in the near future.
The new general manager will have to work with Adelman to address numerous roster concerns with Denver. There has been a lot of trade buzz surrounding Michael Porter Jr., who is a solid role player but is probably overpaid for what he provides on the court. Questions remain about what the Nuggets could potentially get for Porter in a trade, which makes his situation murky.
Regardless of what the team looks like, the Nuggets know that they have a very finite window of time with Nikola Jokic in his prime to compete for a championship, and all of the focus should be on maximizing that chance year in and year out for the next few seasons.