Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Denver Nuggets.
Free agent signings
Spencer Jones: Two years, $11,750,000. Fully guaranteed. Matched Thunder’s offer sheet using Early Bird rights.
Marvin Bagley III: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
DeMar DeRozan: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Alpha Diallo: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Tyus Jones: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
Lonnie Walker IV: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
Acquired the No. 35 pick in the 2026 draft, the Timberwolves’ 2028 second-round pick, and the Kings’ 2031 second-round pick from the Spurs in exchange for the draft rights to Tarris Reed Jr. (No. 26 pick).
Acquired the Cavaliers’ 2031 first-round pick and the Kings’ 2032 second-round pick from the Cavaliers and Julian Reese (two-way) from the Wizards in a five-team trade in exchange for Peyton Watson (sign-and-trade; to Cavaliers) and the draft rights to Ismael Kamagate (to Cavaliers).
Draft picks
2-35: Trevon Brazile
Signed to four-year, $9,264,648 contract using second-round pick exception. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year team option.
Two-way signings
Bryce Hopkins
One year, $91,000 partial guarantee (will increase to $339,441 at start of regular season).
Note: The Nuggets carried over KJ Simpson on a two-way contract from 2025/26.
Departed/unsigned free agents
David Roddy (Hapoel Jerusalem – Israel)
Other roster moves
Waived Jonas Valanciunas ($2MM partial guarantee stretched across three seasons).
Waived Julian Reese (two-way contract).
Salary cap situation
Note: Figures are rounded to one decimal place.
Operating over the second tax apron ($221.7MM).
No hard cap.
Team salary: $219.2MM (tax); $224.8MM (apron).
Above luxury tax line by $18.8MM; above second apron by $3.2MM.
Taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.1MM) unused but unavailable as long as salary is above second apron.
Two traded player exceptions frozen/unavailable (largest worth $10.2MM).
The offseason so far
The Nuggets entered the offseason in the unenviable position of having a dearth of draft assets, multiple players coming off injury-disrupted seasons, and a payroll that projected to be well over the second tax apron.
Complicating matters further is the fact they had a disappointing playoff run, having been eliminated in the first round by division rival Minnesota despite entering the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. Injuries were a factor for both teams in the series, with Anthony Edwards (knee), Donte DiVincenzo (torn Achilles in Game 4), Peyton Watson (hamstring) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring) among the key players who missed time.
Denver’s second-apron concerns were magnified because the team is subject to the “repeater” tax rate for being a taxpayer for three straight years from 2022-25. To be clear, the Nuggets didn’t exactly spend lavishly in those three seasons, with their tax bills ranging between $17.3MM-$20.4MM each year, per Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom. The team dipped below the luxury tax threshold last season and will need to do so again in 2026/27 to reset its “repeater” clock.
On top of all those unappealing factors, the Nuggets also entered the offseason with two restricted free agent forwards who had varying degrees of breakout seasons in 2025/26: Spencer Jones and Watson.
The front office signaled it was focused on the team’s payroll during the draft, when the Nuggets traded out of the first round by sending the No. 26 overall pick (Tarris Reed Jr.) to San Antonio for the 35th pick (Trevon Brazile) and two future second-rounders. Crucially, Reed will earn $3.1MM this season, whereas Brazile signed a rookie minimum deal, which carries a $1.36MM cap hit in 2026/27.
The Nuggets’ second 2026 draft addition, 49th pick Bryce Hopkins, eventually signed a two-way contract with Denver. He’s worth keeping an eye on as a player who could be promoted to a minimum-salary standard deal down the line, since he’d also have a $1.36MM cap hit in that scenario.
Several roster moves were made while the Nuggets were contract standoffs with Jones and Watson. Sixth Man of the Year finalist Tim Hardaway Jr. quickly signed with Miami; the team waived veteran center Jonas Valanciunas and later used the stretch provision to spread his $2MM partial guarantee over the next three seasons; Denver declined to issue a qualifying offer to Jalen Pickett, who later signed a two-way deal with the Clippers; and the Nuggets decided not to re-sign Bruce Brown, who remains on the open market.
In addition to those key bench departures, the Nuggets brought back Tyus Jones on a veteran’s minimum contract; added big man Marvin Bagley III to replace Valanciunas; and signed EuroLeague standout Alpha Diallo. All three of those one-year, minimum-salary deals are fully guaranteed.
Jones was the first restricted free agency domino to fall, having signed a two-year, $11.75MM offer sheet with Oklahoma City. That contract features a $6MM starting salary in 2026/27 and officially pushed the Nuggets over the second apron after they exercised their right to match it.
There had long been an expectation that the Nuggets would look to trade Cameron Johnson or perhaps Christian Braun this summer in an effort to retain Watson in restricted free agency. While the team reportedly listened to offers for Johnson, it ended up keeping him, which signaled that Watson’s time in Denver may have been nearing its end.
It was clear from the outset of free agency that there was a significant gap in valuation between the Nuggets and Watson, with the team reportedly offering a four-year contract worth around $70MM (including a fourth-year team option) and Watson said to be seeking $25MM+ annually.
The problem for Watson is that only a few teams operated with cap room this summer and it sounds as if none of them seriously pursued him, limiting his leverage in contract negotiations. Several teams did express interest in the former No. 30 overall pick, but sign-and-trade scenarios are notoriously complicated.
Still, Watson and the Nuggets eventually found a deal to both of their liking. Watson landed a four-year, $88MM contract with the Cavaliers (including a fourth-year player option) in a five-team sign-and-trade in which Denver received Cleveland’s unprotected 2031 first-round pick and Sacramento’s 2032 second-rounder from the Cavs.
With Watson’s RFA resolved, the Denver turned its attention to free agent forward DeMar DeRozan and convinced the six-time All-Star to join the Nuggets on a one-year, minimum-salary deal.
Up next
The Nuggets currently have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and Lonnie Walker IV on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal for training camp. Given Denver’s financial situation, the veteran guard — who has spent most of the past two seasons overseas — seems like a long shot to make the regular season roster.
With 17 players currently on the roster, the Nuggets are still four spots shy of the offseason limit and will be cycling through training camp invitees in the coming weeks. They also have an open two-way slot.
Denver doesn’t currently face a hard cap, which is important, because the team is still operating over the second apron by about $3.15MM. The Nuggets’ projected luxury tax payment is currently $75.29MM, per Yossi Gozlan of CapSheets.com.
As long as they stay over the second apron, the Nuggets will face certain roster-building restrictions, including having no access to the $6.1MM taxpayer mid-level exception and the $10.2MM traded player exception they created as part of the Watson deal.
The Nuggets were reportedly unhappy with Watson’s camp for being cautious with the young forward ahead of free agency. He missed several weeks of the season due to a Grade 2 hamstring string and aggravated the injury in his fifth game back in early April, which caused him to miss the playoffs. Denver reportedly believed Watson could have played in the first-round loss to Minnesota. Watson’s camp pushed back on that claim.
Either way, the outcome was largely disappointing. The Nuggets are said to be “elated” that they were able to land the unprotected first-rounder from Cleveland after a difficult RFA process, but that pick doesn’t make the team any better in the short term.
Denver essentially replaced Watson, Hardaway, Valanciunas and Brown with DeRozan, Diallo, Bagley and (maybe, but probably not) Walker. Not great for a team that needed to upgrade its roster.
Although Johnson reportedly remains in the team’s plans for now, I’ll be curious to see if that changes ahead of the February trade deadline. Moving off his contract, which features unlikely incentives, could put Denver all the way below the tax line, depending on the structure of the theoretical cost-cutting deal.
Johnson is extension-eligible too, but I have a hard time picturing a deal getting done before the season begins. He’ll remain eligible for an extension through June 30, 2027, so there’s no reason to rush from the team’s perspective.
Of course, the biggest question looming over the Nuggets is the future of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. The Serbian center opted against signing contract extensions in both 2025 and 2026 and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer if he declines his $62.84MM player option for 2027/28.
Jokic has consistently said he wants to be a “Nugget forever,” but until the 31-year-old officially puts pen to paper, he figures to be the subject of rampant speculation in the coming months. Several rival teams project to have a significant amount of cap room next summer and would undoubtedly love to have one of the greatest players of his generation on their roster.
Will the Nuggets end up using that first-rounder from Cleveland to upgrade their roster? Time will tell. But right now, they appear farther away from championship contention than at any point since they won their first NBA title in 2023.
Luke Adams contributed to this article.