Nuggets given brutal offseason grade for their moves thus far

The Denver Nuggets offseason still isn’t finished.

The future of restricted free agent Peyton Watson remains up in the air and Spencer Jones may or may not be back. Plus, the carrot that is LeBron James is dangling out there for all NBA teams.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Nuggets remain a “finalist” for James, but the consensus seems to be they trail teams like the Cavaliers, Warriors, Heat and 76ers for his services.

So while Denver’s roster is getting close to finished, a few questions remain.

“If they end up keeping Peyton Watson, it’ll probably be a C. But this team is replacing Jonas Valančiūnas with Marvin Bagley III, and the Nuggets don’t have a replacement for Tim Hardaway Jr. For now, they’re back to having depth issues,” Zach Harper wrote.

That’s why it’s strange the Nuggets received a “D-” while the Cavaliers, Pelicans and Raptors were graded with an incomplete. It seems like Denver could’ve been in that category.

Still, Harper raises valid issues. Bagley is a former top pick who hasn’t met expectations. Hardaway bolted for Miami and there doesn’t seem to be a clear plan to replace him.

The Nuggets added a couple second-round picks, a former EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year and brought back Tyus Jones, but none of that is going to move the needle.

Team owner Josh Kroenke said anyone but Nikola Jokic could be traded, but that’s yet to materialize. Maybe something big is coming with Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Cameron Johnson or Christian Braun — we’ll see.

In the meantime the Nuggets are in a precarious salary cap situation and Jokic is now kicking the can down the road on waiting to sign a massive contract extension until next summer.

Add all that up and Denver nearly earned a failing grade from The Athletic. 

To read the full marks, click here.