Four Glaring Takeaways From Nuggets' End-of-Season Presser

The Nuggets' top decision-makers addressed the media following their first-round exit. Here's the biggest takeaways from what they said.

Feb 19, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman at press conference at the Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

With the dust settled from the end of the Denver Nuggets' season, the team finally hosted their end-of-season media with the collective of team president Josh Kroenke, exec duo Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, and head coach David Adelman to discuss some of their recent disappointments from the postseason, and some of what could be on the horizon for a pivotal summer ahead.

Here's four of the biggest takeaways from the Nuggets' Friday presser:

1. Everything Is On the Table... Even Running It Back

Outside of trading Nikola Jokic, Kroenke made it clear that any possibility as it relates to roster construction remains on the table to get this group where it needs to be. That even includes running it back with the same core of individuals at the top of the roster.

"Everything is going to be on the table, outside of trading Nikola [Jokic]," Kroenke said. "I think we need to have running it back as a possibility. I think this season, in a lot of ways, is the season that never was. Because this group never fully got a chance to show any kind of rhythm."

The Nuggets will almost certainly have to make some type of move to the top of their books to navigate their brutal salary cap situation and still have flexibility re-sign Peyton Watson. So totally "running it back" is a strategy easier said than done.

That leaves an array of possibilities for potential roster decisions. Could Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon be traded? A Cameron Johnson move? Nothing at all? Only time will tell, making this as unpredictable of an offseason Denver has been faced with in some time.

2. Retaining Peyton Watson Remains a Priority

Perhaps the biggest situation the Nuggets are faced with this summer is the pending restricted free agency of Peyton Watson. He's set to land a nice pay raise no matter where his offer comes from, but completing the necessary measures to retain him seems to be near the top of the to-do list.

The Nuggets won't be able to match any and every offer sheet that comes Watson's way. Their lack of apron and luxury tax space prevents that. But they have routes to create flexibility, and Bird Rights to go over the cap and retain them, leaving ample flexibility for a new deal to eventually come to form.

Again, it's tough to imagine the Nuggets can do this and keep everyone on their current roster and "run it back". So notable changes are to be made if keeping Watson is truly a priority. 

3. Injuries Were Critical in Coming Up Short

One part of the Nuggets' season that just didn't fall in their favor was injury luck, as for about 90% of the regular season and playoffs, Denver was without one of their starting five pieces plus Peyton Watson.

It's hard to win a championship when your best players aren't playing. That happened to be the situation the Nuggets found themselves in during their first-round loss without Watson and Aaron Gordon, and really took a hit to how versatile they can be on both ends of the floor.

That could be a large part of the reason for Kronke's willingness to run it back: without a full sample size of this core group, maybe one more go with better availability can lead to different results.

4. Ball-Handling, Athleticism Will Be Key to Improvement

David Adelman made special note of three things the Nuggets were lacking in the postseason: ball-handling, the ability to finish, and athleticism.

"I do think that what stood out was ball-handling, handling pressure... that really hurt us," Adelman said. "Athleticism is part of the league... just a little bit more of that, it puts you in a series to win. I do think that the ball handling we didn't have in the Minnesota series did hurt."

It's the ball-handling and athleticism aspects that the Nuggets can target this offseason as potential improvements to get this roster better well-rounded for a physical, challenging playoff series like they just came up short in.

As to which avenues the Nuggets go in order to find those skills, via trade, the draft, or free agency, is up in the air, but between that and the defensive side of the ball, finding players with upside in those areas should be squarely on their radar to add this summer.

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