Nuggets reportedly retaining David Adelman, taking calls on anybody but Nikola Jokić

But that depth frequently failed to surface in Denver’s playoff loss to Minnesota and was further tested by injuries to Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon. Watson missed the entire series with a hamstring injury, and Gordon missed Games 3, 5 and 6 with a calf strain, exacerbating an injury-plagued season that limited him to 36 regular season games.

Can Nuggets fix depth, rim protection issues?

As Minnesota took control of the series from Game 2 on, the Nuggets ran an inconsistent cast of bench players that failed to find reliable production the bench and their role players.

By the end of games against the Timberwolves, Jokić and Murray frequently looked gassed. Each played arguably the worst playoff series of his career against a swarming Minnesota defense.

The Timberwolves, meanwhile, exposed Denver’s lack of rim protection throughout the series. Ayo Donsumu had a career game with 43 points off the bench in Game 4 highlighted by frequent attacks of an unprotected basket.

Terrance Shannon Jr. repeatedly scored uncontested buckets at the rim in a 24-point effort in Minnesota’s closeout win in Game 6. There’s a defensive hole at the basket that won’t be plugged by a healthy Gordon.

Nuggets don’t have much room to maneuver

Fixing Denver’s roster construction issues will require some creativity. The Nuggets have an expensive roster and don’t have a lot to offer in return to a team looking to build for the future.

Their 2026 first-round pick is the 26th in the draft. They’ve traded their first-round pick in 2027 to the Thunder, barring top-5 protection kicking in.

Christian Braun is likely untradeable after a down season and playoffs (8.3 ppg, 41.7% from the field) and a five-year, $125 million extension set to kick in.

And the Nuggets as constructed project to have roughly $203 million to $214 million in salary next season, well over the projected $165 million salary cap and flirting with the projected $209 million first apron. That’s before any effort to re-sign pending free agents Spencer Jones, Bruce Brown, Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Murray’s due roughly $111 million on the remaining two years of his four-year, $208 million contract. For a team seeking cap relief, parting with his contract could be an appealing if painful prospect if there’s another team interested in taking his contract on coming off a likely All-NBA season.

Whatever the Nuggets decide to do to maximize the remaining of Jokić’s prime, it won’t come easy.