With help from the family-friendly tradition of Star Wars night at the ballpark, 42,131 paid to spot one together on Saturday night — a 10-6 Rockies victory over the Twins that cemented Colorado’s first home series win of the year.

“It’s definitely a nice building block, absolutely,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “We want series wins at home. Nobody wanted it to take this long to get it, but doesn’t matter. We’ve got it right now.”

It only took until July 19. Ninety-eight games. Turns out, all the Rockies (24-74) needed to finally accomplish the feat was an All-Star break and a few motivational words from Schaeffer upon return.

“We had a little team discussion,” third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “I feel like Warren Schaeffer put a lot of good points, a lot of good perspective out there. … Some guys said some stuff. Now it’s just holding each other accountable to that. Trying to make sure that we’re playing each game as hard as we can.”

Now the Rockies have a chance to earn their first home sweep since May 10-12, 2024, on Sunday (1:10 p.m.) when they wrap up their three-game set with the Twins — Minnesota’s, not Luke and Leia Skywalker.

The force was with Colorado in just enough timely moments Saturday. Both teams narrowly missed home runs in the first two innings as the Twins built a 3-1 lead. But when McMahon connected with a Zebby Matthews slider in the third frame, it snuck over the tallest portion of the center-field fence for a two-run, game-tying home run that defied any suspicion of a post-break malaise already setting in on Blake Street. McMahon has gone deep in both games since the All-Star break.

Then in the fifth, Ezequiel Tovar clobbered a 1-2 fastball 433 feet to center for a three-run shot –again with two outs.

It gave Tovar his first homer since May. It gave the Rockies a 6-3 lead that they never relinquished.

“Ezequiel Tovar is Ezequiel Tovar,” McMahon said of the shortstop, who missed more than a month before the break. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”

This being the 2025 Rockies, though, clinching a series wasn’t allowed to be simple and stress-free.

Starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela gave Colorado seven strong innings of three-run ball, snapping a streak of three straight losing decisions. Almost immediately after he exited with a seemingly comfortable 8-3 edge, his bullpen started walking a tightrope. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Minnesota with one out. A two-out double brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Carlos Correa.

Colorado reliever Tyler Kinley was able to extinguish the fire. He struck out the three-time All-Star, and newly minted All-Star Hunter Goodman gave the Rockies all the insurance they needed with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning. He, Tovar and Mickey Moniak each had three-hit nights.

“Just good stuff from the offense. Good plan,” Schaeffer said. “… Multiple guys contributing. Any time you can get multiple guys contributing, you’re going to score runs. Especially in this park.”

Senzatela overcame a 35-minute rain delay before first pitch and a string of three consecutive Minnesota extra-base hits early to deliver his longest start of the year. He didn’t allow a runner to reach scoring position in his last five innings of work, inducing two Twins double plays to go with three strikeouts.

“His curveball was good,” Schaeffer said. “He commanded the heater other than that one inning.”

“I felt good. I maybe could go for another inning or something, but seven innings is good,” Senzatela said. “We’ve got a good bullpen, and we win the game (which) is most important.”

The Rockies have now won a total of three series in 2025. They have lost 29.

Ritter injures finger

Second baseman Ryan Ritter, who has filled in for Tovar at shortstop recently, is now expected to be out for multiple games after cutting open his finger on a bunt attempt Saturday. He didn’t break any bones, Schaeffer said, but needed stitches to close up the “pretty nasty” injury.

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

The funny thing is, he wasn’t even in Denver. He was in Arizona, where he spends his offseasons, “just casually chilling” at a restaurant near his house. It was a couple of days after the Brooklyn Nets had traded him to the Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr. and a 2031 first-round pick.

“This whole table, I’m talking 10 old people, were shaking. Like beside themselves,” Johnson recalled on Friday, when he was formally introduced at Ball Arena. “They’re like, ‘We’ve been Nuggets fans for so long. We live in Arizona. We’re huge Nuggets fans.’ The ladies almost crying and stuff. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is awesome.'”

Johnson has a lot to figure out still. He and Porter have discussed the possibility of swapping homes, but he doesn’t quite know where he’ll live in the Denver area yet. The good news is that an offseason trade leaves him time to get settled in his third NBA city, where he’ll start for a title-contending team alongside three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic.

“It’s a tough style to play against,” Johnson said solemnly, reflecting on his encounters as a Net and Phoenix Sun.

Now he gets to learn what it’s like from the other side: “That’s the kind of basketball I want to play, where everybody’s in tune with each other and able to play off each other.”

Johnson was the centerpiece of Denver’s offseason moves under new front office leadership. Trading Porter for him was a roster shake-up in its own right, but the exchange of salaries also made room for the Nuggets to add another critical role player. Meanwhile, they weren’t sacrificing much from a size and shooting standpoint. Porter is 6-foot-10, Johnson 6-8. Porter was a 39.5% outside shooter last season, Johnson 39% sharp (at slightly higher volume).

The North Carolina grad is a 39.2% career 3-point shooter fresh off his best statistical season in Brooklyn, where he averaged 18.8 points on a lottery team devoid of elite scoring options.

The Nuggets are on a completely different timeline. Denver is a completely different vibe. The lifestyle is slower. The landscape and basketball expectations are steeper. Johnson “relishes” that, in his own words.

“The goal at the beginning, at the end of the day and everything in-between is to win a championship, and that’s what I’m here to do,” he said. “That’s what my teammates, I’m 100% sure, are here to do. So that’s the ultimate goal. Obviously, things happen over the course of the season. You never really know. If everybody only defines successful seasons by the championship, then there would really be a small amount of guys at the end of the season defining their season as successful. So it’s a wide range of things — and I think it starts with how well we can gel, and how the system works.”

Johnson’s new teammates are a good fit for his personality on paper. He’s a known basketball nerd, an X’s and O’s enthusiast with a clear-eyed appreciation for Aaron Gordon’s role in the dunker spot as much as Jokic’s flashy passing. When Johnson was growing up in Pittsburgh, he would draw up sets on “a little notebook” in his bedroom.

“I always loved the game,” he said. “I always loved the mental side of the game. And I’ve always prided myself on that.”

Nuggets coach David Adelman conceptualized Johnson as a focal point of off-ball actions when speaking with The Denver Post last week. Johnson agrees that his catch-and-shoot opportunities are likely to experience “a little bit of an uptick” after he was asked to play on the ball more in Brooklyn. Still, having dabbled in that type of role was another appeal to Denver. The roster had a shortage of shot-creating talent last season, adding to the burden of Jokic and Jamal Murray.

Johnson’s player development specialist with the Nets was Connor Griffin, who used to work for the Nuggets. His head coach, Jordi Fernandez, used to be an assistant under Michael Malone in Denver. “They said it’s a perfect situation for me, and they know my game,” Johnson said Friday.

He’s already well-acquainted with the basketball situation he’s walking into. What he’s eager to familiarize himself with next is the local community. Breakfast in Arizona was a good start.

“There’s a lot for me to learn about the city and a lot for me to learn about the fans of the Nuggets,” Johnson said. “So far, the reception has been incredible. I’m in random places where I wouldn’t expect to find any Nuggets fans, and it’s like, ‘Whoa, go Nuggets! We’re excited!’ And it’s been all over the place, no matter where I’ve been over the past couple of weeks. So that’s really encouraging.”

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

Nuggets executive vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer said Friday that he has “no concerns” about the status of Valanciunas, a sentiment echoed by executive VP of player personnel Jon Wallace.

“We’ve had great conversations with him,” Tenzer said, “and there’s been nothing but healthy conversations in terms of him honoring his contract and him (being) excited to be a Nugget.”

Numerous team officials have spoken with Valanciunas at this point, including front office personnel and head coach David Adelman. The feeling around the team is that Valanciunas has been amicable and cooperative about playing in Denver, despite ongoing speculation regarding his willingness to stay in the NBA after receiving a contract offer from Panathinaikos.

News of the Greek club’s interest in him emerged after the Nuggets acquired Valanciunas in a trade with the Sacramento Kings this month. The Lithuanian big man is under contract in the NBA for at least the 2025-26 season, and Denver has remained steadfast that he’ll be held to that. In order for him to sign with a EuroLeague team, he would first be required to negotiate a release from his NBA contract. The Nuggets traded for him not to buy him out, but to use him as Nikola Jokic’s backup center.

“We’re still working through that right now,” Wallace said Friday when asked about plans to get Valanciunas to Denver.

Complicating matters somewhat is EuroBasket, the European championship tournament beginning in late August. Valanciunas will be competing for Lithuania, where he has already reported for national team training camp. There is a possibility that Denver will have someone in Europe to see him during the tournament. Jokic is also widely expected to compete for Serbia.

However the logistics are sorted out across continents, all signs point to a peaceful outcome to this unusual dilemma — reinforced by Tenzer’s first comments made to independent media about it on Friday.

Open roster spot?

With Valanciunas, Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. officially joining the team, Denver still has one open roster spot that it can choose whether or not to fill. But when Tenzer was asked if he feels any pressure to address that before training camp in September, he indicated that he might feel comfortable leaving it open.

“I wouldn’t say there’s pressure. We’re going to be patient right now,” Tenzer said. “We feel really good about where the roster’s at. And if we feel like it’s important to add a 15th, we will. But no pressure right now.”

Teams are required to carry at least 14 players during the season, but there are potential benefits to leaving the final spot open. The Nuggets’ payroll is only $400,000 above the luxury tax line. They still have access to a portion of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. If they aren’t in love with any remaining free agents, they can maintain the flexibility to pursue a player on the buyout market in February or March.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

Did Sacramento know about the Jonas Valanciunas/Europe situation when they made the trade? The whole thing seems shady from that end.

— Andrew, Denver

Thanks for starting us off, Andrew. I honestly don’t know for sure how much the Kings did or didn’t know ahead of time. That part definitely remains murky, and I can see how it’s tempting to assume they were stealth-dumping their problem on Denver’s doorstep. But my educated guess is that they couldn’t have known Panathinaikos was lurking. Why would they have made the trade if they did? The whole purpose of the deal for them was to shed salary. There is no other justification for trading a sturdy, dependable backup center for one who played 16 underwhelming games last season.

By turning Valanciunas into Dario Saric, the Kings saved about $4.7 million in cap space for 2025-26. If they had known Valanciunas was yearning for the beaches of Greece (or the increase in guaranteed money), they could have hypothetically reached a contract buyout agreement instead of trading him. Sacramento would’ve had the same leverage that Denver now has, except with actual incentive to release him from his NBA contract.

There’s no telling exactly how that would’ve played out — maybe the Kings felt that trading him was the safer outcome than risking a failed buyout negotiation — but if Valanciunas earnestly wants to play overseas and would’ve willingly forfeited his entire salary, Sacramento could’ve conceivably saved $10.4 million in cap space. That’s more than twice what was saved by taking on Saric’s contract.

Bennett, love your reporting. My question is about Christian Braun. He improved by leaps and bounds last year. What do you think he’ll do this year?

— AJ, Aurora

How much do you think Christian Braun will get paid on his next contract?

— David, Denver

The salary cap is expected to increase by only 7% in 2026-27, which could rain on the Braun extension parade a bit. I do expect the Nuggets and him to get a deal done while he’s eligible this offseason, but the number will be interesting.

Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus recently projected four years and $94 million for an average annual value of $23.5 million. That might be on the low end, though. Spotrac’s Keith Smith projected Braun to be one of only five players in the 2022 draft class to eclipse $30 million annually on his second contract (at four years and $120 million), along with Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Walker Kessler. ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks also offered a valuation of “at least $30 million per year,” but that was notably when the cap was expected to increase by a larger percentage.

Due diligence for the Nuggets is to negotiate. They’re already on the hook for at least $171.6 million in 2026-27, spread across five contracts — even after they improved their cap sheet with the Michael Porter Jr. trade.

If Braun’s salary does exceed $30 million, the 2026-27 starting lineup plus Zeke Nnaji will cost more than $200 million, with the second apron estimated to be $222.4 million. That doesn’t account for Peyton Watson’s possible extension, Jonas Valanciunas’ non-guaranteed salary and four rookie-scale contracts with team options on them. It’s very much within the realm of possibility that Denver ends up with a second-apron payroll and multiple roster spots still open.

Braun is already a versatile and valuable player with room to keep improving. His screen navigation as a lead defensive guard is on an upward trajectory. On offense, he can boost his 3-point shooting reputation by maintaining his efficiency at higher volume — and by punishing defenses that ignore him in the playoffs more than he did this year. I don’t believe that his on-ball ability is fully developed yet, either. The foundation of who he is as a player is established, but there are supporting layers he can add.

If one thing’s clear after last season, it’s that Braun is highly committed to making those strides. Denver should want him to be part of its long-term future alongside Nikola Jokic, who’s an advocate for the young guard. One way to possibly get Braun’s AAV down could be to offer him five years for a higher total dollar amount.

For reference, 2021 draftees Jalen Suggs (Orlando) and Jalen Johnson (Atlanta) both signed five-year extensions last offseason for $150 million, when the cap was lower. Is Braun in that same class of player? Is his ceiling higher or lower? His floor? Several angles to consider when evaluating what percentage of the cap he’s worth.

Hey Bennett, what’s the rotation going to look like this year? We picked up so many pieces that our depth looks amazing on paper. I have a starting five of Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, Jamal Murray and Christian Braun. And then we could play Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther and Jalen Pickett. That’s 11 guys deep.

— Mike, Denver

“You really would like to have a long rotation to start the season,” David Adelman told The Denver Post in Las Vegas, “and then let things play out as they will.”

I think the first-year head coach is likely to tinker with that rotation a lot throughout the regular season. It’s difficult to assess exactly how much depth the Nuggets have at this point (you never know who might have a down season or injury), but what they indisputably do have is an abundance of options. You’d like to think that at least one of Strawther or Hardaway will be an effective backup shooting guard, whereas you were holding your breath last season that Strawther could be consistently dependable in that role as an NBA sophomore.

The same goes for the architecture of the frontcourt. Watson can theoretically play more on the wing than in previous years, but he could also provide reinforcements at the four if Holmes struggles to find his footing. Or Holmes can slide to the five when Denver gives Jokic a night off and Valanciunas starts. Not everything is going to work, but the Nuggets should have enough moving parts to gracefully navigate the ideas that don’t.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see all 11 of the players you mentioned in the opening-night rotation, but that could eventually morph into an arrangement where nine or 10 guys play every game, with the ninth and 10th spots dependent on the matchup or the hot hand.

Bennett, I know it makes sense financially for Jokic to delay extension talks until next year, but should we be worried about him joining Luka in L.A. at all?

— Ashley, Golden

The reality of the NBA is that anytime a player of Jokic’s pedigree chooses not to extend with his current team, it’s going to be fodder for speculation. The talk show segments and greedy Laker fans are kind of unavoidable, even in cases like this where the financial incentive to decline an extension is pretty obvious.

The Luka trade taught me to never say the word “impossible” about a hypothetical transaction. But my advice would be that it’s pointless to live in fear of losing a player who’s never given any indication he wants to leave. I think it would take a pretty disastrous season in Denver for Jokic to consider turning down the extension next summer. Even if the Nuggets fall short again in the playoffs, their recent coaching, front office and roster moves have sent a clear message that they’re not treating their superstar’s prime with complacency.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

In the latest edition of the Nuggets Ink podcast, beat writer Bennett Durando and sports editor Matt Schubert reconvene following DaRon Holmes II’s glorious return to NBA Summer League. Among the topics discussed:

• Nikola Jokic caused a stir in NBA circles by … doing nothing?! Denver’s MVP center became extension-eligible last week but declined to sign on the dotted line, according to league sources. Here’s why Nuggets fans need not freak out — yet.
• Jonas Valanciunas caused a stir in NBA circles by … visiting Greece?! The recently acquired backup to Jokic was offered a three-year contract by EuroLeague power Panathinaikos, and Valanciunas signaled mutual interest by visiting Greece. Yet the Nuggets hold all the cards. What happens next?
• Nuggets big man DaRon Holmes II returned to NBA Summer League a year after rupturing an Achilles tendon at the very same venue. How did the second-year player look? And how might he slot into what’s becoming a deep Nuggets rotation?
• With the Cam Johnson-MPJ trade now complete, the fellas ponder if the Nuggets might now have a better starting five than when the franchise won the NBA title in 2023.
• What’s Denver’s best public park? You better believe the fellas have some opinions.

Subscribe to the podcast

SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | YouTube Music | RSS

Producer: AAron Ontiveroz
Music: “The Last Dragons” by Schama Noel

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

Spencer Jones and Curtis Jones got hot in the waning minutes to lead a dramatic near-comeback from down double digits, but after the Nuggets got within one point with 14 seconds left, they committed a costly foul away from the ball as Toronto was trying to inbound it. That resulted in an extra free throw for the Raptors, who iced the game at the line. Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Summer Nuggets can’t dribble

Denver might not win a game this week if its two remaining opponents extend their defense and intensify their ball pressure. The Nuggets just don’t have any consistent creators on their Summer League roster, and their lack of ball-handling against Toronto’s aggressive defense led to a momentum-zapping 19-0 run during the third quarter.

Unable to get the ball across the timeline for prolonged stretches, Denver committed a ghastly 24 turnovers, seven of them by point guard Reece Beekman, who appeared in 34 games for Brooklyn last season.

Two-way signee Tamar Bates was able to show off flashes of shot-making off the dribble, including an isolation 3-pointer and a midrange jumper from the elbow, but he’s not a natural table-setting point guard. He also coughed it up three times. Boo Buie was able to provide some control (and a heat-check attempt) while he was on the floor, until he injured his back colliding with the scorer’s table on a Toronto flagrant foul.

The Harrison enigma

Australian 7-footer Tyrell Harrison has been Denver’s starting center in Las Vegas, and it’s been a fascinating week for the 26-year-old, a longtime staple of the Brisbane Bullets. Clearly uncomfortable with the ball in his hands or coming toward his hands, he committed six of his seven turnovers in the first half Tuesday while contributing one point, three rebounds and zero blocks or steals.

But he was also a team-best plus-seven at halftime of a game Denver led. He possessed the Nuggets’ best plus-minus against Milwaukee and their third-best against Minnesota.

What does it mean? Well, probably that it helps to have a true center on the court. And that DaRon Holmes II seems better suited to play the four.

Harrison hasn’t exactly been a standout, but he’s decent at mucking things up in the paint with his size on a good day. (Tuesday wasn’t one.) When he and Holmes are on the floor together, the lineup feels a bit more natural. Holmes went for 10 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in Denver’s latest loss. He wasn’t part of the turnover problem, either, making simple but smart reads when he needed to pass.

Summer League ejection

Former Ohio State star EJ Liddell allowed Toronto’s physicality to get to him a little too much late in the game. He got into a taunting match after Buie’s injury that earned him a technical foul, and later in the fourth quarter he committed a reckless flagrant-two foul that started a kerfuffle. Liddell was disqualified, but not before he blocked four shots and got to the line a handful of times.

Jonas Valanciunas is officially a Nugget, and Dario Saric is officially a King, despite a seemingly ill-fated attempt to intervene by the Greek club Panathinaikos. When the Nuggets agreed to the trade, Valanciunas was already mulling a three-year contract from the EuroLeague powerhouse — an offer that would require him to be released from his NBA contract with cooperation from Denver.

One problem: Denver had already been celebrating the Valanciunas acquisition internally. The 33-year-old Lithuanian big man is an ideal fit to anchor the second unit and shoulder a heavier load than Nikola Jokic’s previous backup centers. The team has made it clear behind the scenes that Valanciunas is expected to honor his contract, while also understanding that efforts must be made to help him feel comfortable and content with the idea of spending at least a year in Denver.

He’s owed $10.4 million for the upcoming 2025-26 season, and he has a non-guaranteed salary of $10 million for 2026-27, the last year of his NBA contract.

In league circles, Valanciunas is widely respected for his professionalism. How he navigates this situation publicly will be telling, as uncertainty lingers regarding how he’ll feel as the NBA season draws closer. During a series of otherwise cryptic comments in Lithuania last week, he said he was planning to travel to Denver and meet with the team at some point. However, the timing of that trip is unclear because he also reported to his national team’s training camp this week ahead of the EuroBasket tournament.

“When I am sure, I’ll definitely let you know,” he said on Monday about his future, according to BasketNews.

Considering Denver’s stance, other major developments seem unlikely until Valanciunas himself is willing to speak more directly.

And so it’s business as usual from the Nuggets’ perspective. They’re operating under the expectation that Valanciunas will be on the court for them in October, when the season begins. He was just one piece of their sprawling offseason puzzle, a series of moves that added depth and flexibility to David Adelman’s rotation, plus a handful of new assistant coaches.

Adelman spoke briefly with The Denver Post on Sunday at the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League, offering insight on Valanciunas and the second unit.

The Valanciunas ‘point center’ concept

Adelman shared on an ESPN broadcast last week that he envisions Valanciunas as a “point center” in Denver — an odd label at surface level considering his career average of 1.4 assists per game. The first-year Nuggets coach provided some clarification on what that means to him Sunday.

“He’s a bona fide, big-time center over the last decade who you can put in a bunch of different spots all over the floor,” Adelman told The Post. “And when I say ‘point center,’ I mean someone you can play through in the half-court. I don’t envision him getting a rebound and pushing the ball up. I do think some of the things we already do (work with him): playing five-out with back-side dribble handoffs, playing off the elbows, posting him up against smaller lineups, his ability to make others better.

“It’s not the assist numbers that matter to me. It’s his ability to start ball movement through the impact of who he is. So he’s an enormous get. I’m super excited about getting him here, getting him acclimated.”

Second unit ‘open competition’

When asked if he’s thought up any lineups to put around Valanciunas yet, Adelman said “I think it’s way too early,” stressing that bench minutes are up for grabs.

“Those guys have to compete for spots. That’s new guys included. They all know that,” he said. “We’re very excited about some of the things those guys have done through their careers. We expect them to come to compete like they’ve done, and there’s a reason they’ve all played in rotations across the league. But this is going to be an open competition. I hope our young guys understand that. … And all those guys will complement Jonas. It’s gonna be the guys who earn these spots that get to play with him.”

The Nuggets have signed Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. to veteran minimum contracts to bolster a mostly young bench.

“I think it just gets you through the season to have more depth. I think the young guys that end up getting on the court, you hope there’s a combination of youth and the experience that we’ve gained,” Adelman said. “But again, all that’s earned. And this is only July. Right now, guys should be working to earn those spots, earn those minutes. And then I think the combinations take care of themselves. That’s how you find out what flows well together, what guys will flow well with some of our starters who’ll come back in to play with the second unit. You really would like to have a long rotation to start the season and then let things play out as they will.”

Other notes from Adelman

On whether the Nuggets have a minutes benchmark they want to keep Nikola Jokic under after he was fourth in minutes per game last season: “We know that one of the most important things we have to do next season is take care of him, and make sure that he is the best version of himself if we’re lucky enough to get to that playoff spot. So yeah, it’s a concern. But it needs to be talked about. It needs to be done the right way. That’s what we’re gonna do.”

On differences between Cam Johnson and Michael Porter Jr.: “Both guys in that trade are extremely unique players. … They both shoot the ball really well. I see Cam as a guy that can be in more off-ball actions, which will help us. It alleviates some pressure on the ball-handling. But we’ve always, to have Aaron (Gordon) and Jamal (Murray) and Nikola bring the ball up, and to have a guy like Cam that can go play two-man game will just add in another element, another level to that offense. … Beyond the basketball thing, Michael was a great teammate, and now just talking to Cam last night, great personality. He’s gonna fit in the locker room really well.”

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

“I always see people that are like, ‘Hey, this guy didn’t play well! This guy didn’t!’ It’s Summer League,” Holmes said. “Not even just for me; for all the other athletes out here playing. A lot of the rooks. They’re getting used to it. So it just takes some time. It’s like when you’re first playing when you’re a freshman going into college. That’s how it feels.”

Two games in, the results have been understandably mixed for Denver’s 2024 first-round draft pick, who missed last season with a torn Achilles tendon. Holmes was one of the most dynamic players on the floor in his return from the injury on Thursday, amassing 15 points and four rebounds with a 6-for-9 shooting performance. He started the night tentatively, then settled into an aggressive groove, testing his face-up game, scoring timely buckets at multiple levels and blocking a shot with impressive timing.

But this was never going to be a linear progression. Holmes is trying to conquer one of the most challenging injuries in the sport. The speed and physicality of Minnesota’s more potent Summer League roster caught up with him a bit on Saturday. He struggled on box-outs, didn’t seem as comfortable putting the ball on the floor and moved awkwardly at times.

When he knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing at one point, he didn’t get back on defense quickly enough and the Wolves capitalized with a quick outlet on his side of the floor, leading to a basket.

As Holmes said himself this week, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” He finished with eight points and six rebounds in a loss to the Timberwolves.

“They’ve got a really big team over there, so that was a good challenge for him with physicality,” Nuggets Summer League coach Andrew Munson said. “And also being aggressive, being shot-ready. He’s one of the best shooters in this whole Summer League, so we want to make sure when he’s open, he’s got to shoot it.”

The best news for Denver so far is that Holmes is off to a 5-for-10 start outside the arc. His shooting mechanics haven’t looked rushed during their reintroduction to game speed, after 12 months of mostly empty gymnasiums.

The Dayton alum has shown signs that he’ll be a solid pick-and-pop threat who can make smart reads based on how he’s guarded. He hasn’t been used much as a roll man yet.

“(I’m) making sure I also (play aggressively) within the system,” Holmes said. “I try to do what I would do when I’m playing with the guys on the roster during the year. I want to play the right way, and Coach Munson preaches that. So finding good shots for me and also creating good shots for my teammates and playing hard defense, if I can do those things, I think we’ll do pretty well.”

As the gradual process of reestablishing those abilities continues, Holmes is also cognizant of the simple fact that it feels good to be playing basketball again.

“I’ve gotta look at the blessings,” as he said on Thursday. “I didn’t get injured this game, so that’s a positive.”

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

Denver’s next game is against Toronto on Tuesday at Cox Pavilion, the secondary gymnasium where it has played both of its games so far.

Wolves a tougher test

The Timberwolves are still a thorn in Denver’s side, even at Summer League. But to be fair, they probably have one of the best rosters in Las Vegas this week, complete with playoff-minted Terrence Shannon Jr. and other second-year talents such as Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark.

That trio and rookie Joan Beringer presented a more athletic, physical and intense test for a Nuggets squad with zero 2025 draft picks and only one 2024 pick — a guy who missed last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

DaRon Holmes II still looks like he’s moving awkwardly at times, understandably. He’s not over-exerting himself yet from a physicality standpoint, but when he picks his spots, it’s notable. On one first-half possession, he backed down Shannon and successfully moved him a few steps, but he ultimately passed out of the post-up, leading to a bad shot at the end of the 24-second clock.

Holmes went for eight points and six boards. Shannon led the Timberwolves with 24 points, capped off by a vicious poster on Tamar Bates.

Denver’s sideline contingent

Court-side seats were mostly vacant on Thursday when the Nuggets opened Summer League play against Milwaukee. They had a few more notable names in the house this time, highlighted by guests of honor Cam Johnson and Tim Hardaway Jr. — two of the four newcomers to the 15-man roster.

Christian Braun made an appearance at halftime, Peyton Watson was in attendance for the second straight game (after hanging with Julian Strawther at the first one), and KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke joined the front-office cavalry after he was absent on Thursday. Unofficial co-general managers Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace have been at both games, along David Adelman and new assistant coach JJ Barea. Adelman’s newly hired top assistant, Jared Dudley, was also on the Nuggets’ celebrity row Saturday.

Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid sat on the baseline to take in the young Timberwolves, and recent free agent departee Nickeil Alexander-Walker (now an Atlanta Hawk) briefly showed up for a reunion with them. When Edwards allowed a young boy in a Nuggets jersey to approach him for an autograph, a fan in the bleachers disputed the superstar’s willingness to fraternize with the enemy.

“It’s all good,” Edwards responded. “I be busting their (butt).”

Denver’s smart 2-way retention

Spencer Jones has been a real bright spot for the Nuggets in the first weekend of Summer League. The only two-way player they’ve brought back from last season, he was aggressive off the bat on Saturday en route to 19 efficient points, six rebounds and two steals.

His wingspan is a solid defensive asset, and he’s capable of grabbing contested rebounds against bigger players. He also splashed a corner 3-pointer with a hand in his face while scoring seven of Denver’s first nine points.

She was a goldendoodle puppy, her fur a shade of auburn that reminded Holmes of his mother’s baking. A culinary arts teacher by day, Tomika Holmes also sculpts and sells extravagant cakes as a side hustle. DaRon grew up on her red velvet.

He hasn’t exactly inherited her talent for gastronomy — “he’s a good DoorDasher,” his dad wisecracked — but Holmes figured if he couldn’t recreate the cake on his own, at least he could name his new therapy dog after it.

“Honestly, it didn’t help,” he said. “But you know, I love that dog. She’s a lot to deal with. I have to deal with her every day. She is a lot. It’s hard raising them. It’s like raising a kid. I think, ‘Why did I get a dog?’ But I’m very grateful for that dog, and I love her to death.”

Fortunately, Red Velvet is more fully grown now. She was a small pup when Holmes adopted her last year, seeking ways to navigate an unprecedented physical and mental obstacle. While Red Velvet grew, his basketball career was frustratingly on hold.

Holmes’ NBA Summer League debut encountered a cruel denouement on July 12, 2024, when he tore his right Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter of a promising performance. His rookie season ended in an instant, two weeks after the Nuggets traded three second-round picks to draft him 22nd overall.

This weekend marked the reintroduction of Holmes, the first step toward a proper rookie year. He played his first game since the injury on Thursday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Cox Pavilion — the same intimate, balmy auxiliary gym where concerned teammates and coaches once crowded around him. With 15 points, he made a triumphant return to the scene of the crime.

Holmes’ mindset while rehabbing from perhaps the most feared injury in professional basketball was always similar to that of his goldendoodle: upbeat and unshaken.

“I was met by a sense of determination and optimism on his part,” said Holmes’ business manager Mitch Brown, who’s been watching him play basketball since he was a child. “It really struck me that his mentality as a 22-year-old kid was so strong, dealing with something like this.”

The night it happened was all the more gut-wrenching for its unfamiliarity. Raised in Phoenix, refined over three years at Dayton University, Holmes had never sustained a major health setback. He fractured a bone once in high school, but it didn’t keep him away from basketball for long.

Family traveled to Las Vegas in droves for his 2024 Summer League opener. About 15 relatives were in attendance at Cox Pavilion, plus Holmes’ high school coaches, his agents and an assortment of family friends.

DaRon Holmes Sr. assumed his son had twisted an ankle when he went down. “We expected him to pop back up and kind of limp and get his feet under him,” he said. “But when we saw the way he was walking and not really able to flex that foot, we got more concerned.”

Team doctors tended to Holmes under the bleachers in a corner of the gym as Denver’s game resumed. It ended only a few minutes later. But in the meantime, relatives could only guess the severity of the injury by observing the facial expressions of Nuggets personnel. Holmes Sr. saw Calvin Booth, the team’s general manager at the time, emerge from the medical area and walk straight out of the gym, visibly upset.

That’s when he knew, even before the text arrived from DaRon’s agent confirming the suspected diagnosis.

“It just felt like I swallowed my heart,” Holmes Sr. said. “Like my heart just fell into my stomach.”

Brown was ironically one of the few family members not in the building. In addition to working with Holmes on NIL deals at Dayton, Brown is Tomika Holmes’ cousin. He was still at his home in Charlotte that night, watching on television with plans to fly out to Vegas for the next few games.

“I was beating myself up,” he said.

Yet Holmes has testified throughout the last year that he wasn’t discouraged. He tried to take the news in stride. He returned to Denver and underwent surgery. When his mom visited a couple of weeks later, she encountered her son in an almost recklessly optimistic state.

“He had a (medical) scooter, and one time he was scooting so fast he fell off the thing, because he was just so ready to get back out there,” Tomika Holmes said. “He’s scooting around downtown Denver, and then trying to take (care of) the goldendoodle puppy. He was like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’ve got this.’ That’s kind of his whole spirit.”

Holmes admits partial defeat in hindsight, though: “I was thinking (Red Velvet) would help me with smiling throughout the day. But I was helping her a lot more than she was helping me.”

Still, as months passed, he continued to progress with a cheerful mindset that even he finds difficult to explain. Brown believes it could be that Achilles tears are becoming so common among NBA players that they’re increasingly recognizing it as a fact of life, rather than a devastating blow to their careers.

Tomika Holmes thinks it could be that Red Velvet did help, despite the inconveniences.

“When you’re going through rehab, and you see other people, your team out there playing and everything, it’s nice to come home to someone who loves you unconditionally,” she said.

Maybe it also helped to have family visiting Ball Arena throughout the year and supporting Holmes as if he were playing. Tomika Holmes would look for him at the end of the bench and send photos of him in a family group chat: “We spotted him! He’s there!”

Holmes’ dad thinks it could be that past disappointments trained him to persist through adversity. DaRon was a manager, not a player, on a team in middle school once. He got cut from multiple AAU rosters.

“I didn’t even really know if I was gonna play basketball,” Holmes said. “I was gonna play overseas. But now I’m here. It’s been a long process. So I just try to stay positive. You never know where you’ll end up.”

Then there was the stealthy silver lining that lingered around Holmes’ entire recovery, lending a reason to feel oddly grateful.

“That same injury could have happened a month earlier. Two weeks earlier,” Holmes Sr. said. “What would have happened if it had happened before the draft?”

The rehab timeline went smoothly. It started with ankle mobility work, then mild calf exercises and a boot. Then Holmes was out of the boot. By December, he was running again and going through pregame shooting workouts. He tried to get up 200 or more 3-pointers daily, unless trainers told him he needed to rest.

Back in July 2024, his surgeon had told him that he could feasibly be back in playing shape the following March.

That was never the goal, though. Holmes understood that he would be out the entire season, including the playoffs.

“Everything was about being ready to come back and play at this time,” Holmes Sr. said.

Summer League, again.

“This is round 2,” Brown said. “A restart at the place where this went left last year. I think it’s meaningful.”

Brown flew into Las Vegas the day before Denver’s first game this time, not wanting to leave anything up to chance — to the whims of airline schedules or summer storm patterns between North Carolina and Nevada. “DaRon’s probably not,” he said, “but I’m a little superstitious.”

Holmes’ parents and agents were back in the building as well, beaming at the sight of him simply running the floor, launching 3s, even making situational mistakes. He did all of it with the enthusiasm of a goldendoodle.

Red Velvet resides in Arizona with DaRon Sr. and Tomika at the moment. Holmes drove to Phoenix with the dog after the Nuggets’ 2024-25 season ended, and she has stayed there since. Whether she stays or returns to Denver could become a dispute. Holmes thinks he’s getting her back soon, but his mom has other ideas.

“I’ve grown quite attached to her,” Tomika Holmes said, “so I don’t know what’s going to happen with the dog.”

After all, Holmes has a rookie season to play.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.