Marvin Bagley's Arrival Could Cost These Nuggets Players Minutes

The Denver Nuggets haven't made a ton of noise throughout this year's free agency period––and really, they still have more work to do considering they haven't come to an agreement on a new deal for Peyton Watson.

But one free agent that the Nuggets did bring in was former Dallas Mavericks big man Marvin Bagley, who is projected to fill a key role within Denver's frontcourt next season as their primary backup to Nikola Jokic.

And as a result, Bagley's presence in the frontcourt will inevitably eat into a few players' minutes who might otherwise be in for a bigger opportunity if he weren’t brought onto a one-year deal.

With that in mind, let's look into three Nuggets players whose minutes could be most threatened by Bagley signing to the Mile High this summer:

DaRon Holmes

Of anyone on the Nuggets who could be the most threatened by Marvin Bagley coming aboard, DaRon Holmes feels like he fits that mold.

Holmes entered this offseason heading into next year looking pretty likely to get a boost in his minutes compared to what he saw throughout his 2025-26 campaign––one year after suffering an Achilles injury in 2024 that ended his true rookie season.

However, the road to getting that opportunity is now much different from what it looked like several weeks ago. Marvin Bagley is in the mix, projected to claim the Nuggets' starting center spot. Spencer Jones re-signed, who will claim a ton of those minutes for Denver at the four, and now leaves Holmes looking like the odd man out in this 10-man rotation.

If Holmes shines in training camp or simply takes a major jump from what was seen out of him last season, perhaps that outlook changes. But there's probably an increased likelihood for Holmes that his minutes next season look scarily similar to what he just dealt with.

Trevon Brazile

It's not like the Nuggets' rookie was primed for big minutes in his first season pro. On a contending roster as Denver's expects to be, it would take a special first-year player to be an impactful, regular piece of the rotation.

But that outlook for Brazile gets even worse with another big man like Bagley in the picture; especially for someone with Bagley's positional versatility that can switch between the four and the five, and offer that same size that Brazil brings to the table, albeit as a bit more of a raw product compared to a near-10-year veteran like the former No. 2 pick.

So more than likely, expect Brazile to be a more frequent piece of the Nuggets' G League team throughout his rookie season, with a heavier set of minutes to come in 2027-28 as opposed to him plugging in as a key piece of the second unit this year.

Zeke Nnaji

Before the Nuggets had signed Bagley and the future was on the wall for Jonas Valanciunas' time in Denver, there was a case that Nnaji could be the team's primary backup center heading into next season.

In reality, he's certainly getting paid like a backup center would at over $7 million on his contract for the next two years, and he played decently well in the stretch that both Nikola Jokic and Valanciunas were both injured in the middle of the 2025-26 campaign, all things considered.

Now, there are just too many names in the Nuggets' frontcourt to imagine Nnaji gets that same opportunity without several injuries taking place. There's even a chance that Nnaji gets traded in the coming weeks before next season for Denver to save cap space.

But if he does manage to stick around on the roster, he'd be lucky to find a consistent spot in the rotation.

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