“I think (the Nuggets) and the Houston Rockets have probably had the best summers (in the NBA),” Barkley, the longtime hoops analyst/icon, told me last Saturday night at Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center.

“And (the Nuggets), they’ve got the best player in the world (in Nikola Jokic). They just needed some more depth. They kind of broke the team up after they won the first championship (2023), and that’s really unfortunate. (They’ve) still got the best player. You want to give them as many opportunities as possible. But I thought they had a great summer.”

Barkley, the hoops Hall of Famer and unfiltered co-host of the best studio show this century, “Inside The NBA,” which moves to ESPN this fall, flew into town to serve as keynote speaker at Saturday’s Porter-Billups Leadership Academy (PBLA) Gala.

A weekend getaway to Denver ticked off a bunch of boxes for The Chuckster: An excuse to visit an old friend in Chauncey Billups, a window to play some golf at altitude, and a chance to support a great cause in the PBLA — a summer academy at Regis University that provides academic and leadership training to students in underserved communities in Denver.

Billups, aka Mr. Big Shot, is co-executive director of the PBLA along with his old coach at CU, Ricardo Patton. It was established in 1996 by Regis men’s basketball coach Lonnie Porter and his daughter, Staci Porter-Bentley, as a launch pad for Front Range hopes and dreams.

And speaking of Denver dreams, Chuck, did the Nuggets land enough lightning for Nikola Jokic to run with the Thunder in 2026?

“They probably had the best chance of beating OKC (in the playoffs),” Barkley replied. “So it’s not like they were that far off. But like I say, them and the Rockets have both had great summers. So that’s all you can say until they start playing.

“I thought, in no particular order, the Nuggets, the Rockets (and) the Hawks, those three teams had the best summers.”

What a difference a new front office makes. Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth gambled two years ago that a handful of young players would turn the same corner Christian Braun did. That they’d morph into a cost-effective second unit to balance pricey contract extensions for franchise mainstays Jamal Murray ($46.4 million cap hit in ’25-26), Aaron Gordon ($22.8 million) and the Joker ($55.2 million).

Yeah, that didn’t happen. Booth and coach Michael Malone clashed, sewing the seeds of contention that got both fired this past April and forcing Nuggets ownership to re-assess. Out of the ashes came a new coach (David Adelman), new co-GMs/vice presidents (Wallace and Tenzer), and, most importantly, a roster-shifting trade that got Michael Porter Jr.’s $38.3 million cap hit for ’25-26 and $40.8-million hit for ’26-27 off the books.

MPJ and a draft pick were shipped to the Nets earlier this month, bringing back a similarly-skilled but less expensive wing forward in Cam Johnson ($21.06 million in ’25-26). That, in turn, opened up cap space for the Nuggets to trade for center Jonas Valanciunas, sign 3-point specialist Tim Hardaway Jr., and re-up with Bruce Brown, a vital, popular cog of the ’23 NBA champs.

“Bruce was a big loss (via free agency to Indiana) the first time around,” Barkley said. “And then they lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (as a free agent to Orlando). Those were big losses. But now they have retooled. Now they can look forward to the season.”

Even better, Sir Charles, continued, Nuggets fans can look forward to better shooting. Better defense. And a roster that matches up better with divisional rivals in Oklahoma City and Minnesota — as well as the Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and Grizzlies.

“First of all, (the Nuggets) got terrific (additions). I think they got more athletic, which they really needed to do,” Barkley said.

“Because if you’re going to beat OKC and the Rockets, you’ve got to be athletic on the perimeter, especially with Durant going down there with those other guys. OKC is probably the most athletic team in the league. But like I say, they got better. And that’s all you could ask for.”

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The team confirmed Monday afternoon that Paul had signed. He led the Clippers to the playoffs in each of his six seasons in Los Angeles.

“Chris is one of the most impactful players ever to wear a Clippers uniform and it’s appropriate that he returns to the team for this chapter of his career,” Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, said in a statement.

Paul, a 12-time All-Star, was a free agent after playing all 82 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season, becoming the first NBA player to do so in his 20th season or later. He averaged 8.8 points and 7.4 assists while shooting 43% from the floor.

Paul had stated that he wanted to play the upcoming season close to his family, which lives in Los Angeles.

He joins a veteran roster that includes new additions guard Bradley Beal, forward John Collins and center Brook Lopez, as well as Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Bogdan Bogdanovic.

“Chris will help fortify our backcourt with his exceptional ballhandling, playmaking and shooting,” Frank said Monday.

Paul played six seasons for the Clippers during their “Lob City” era with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. He made five All-Star teams from 2012 to 2017 and his 4,023 assists are still the most in franchise history. He averaged 18.8 points, 9.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 409 games.

Paul left the Clippers for the Houston Rockets in 2017 because he felt it was time for a change and he wanted to compete for a championship with Harden. Paul spent two seasons in Houston before going to Oklahoma City for one season. He then spent three years with Phoenix and one with Golden State before joining the Spurs last season, who finished 13th in the Western Conference at 34-48.

The Clippers finished fifth at 50-32 and lost to Denver in seven games in the first round.

Frank had said Saturday that the team was “strongly considering” signing Paul to join a crowded guard rotation of Harden, Beal, Bogdanovic and Kris Dunn.

Paul will come off the bench.

“He is joining us as a reserve point guard and is excited to fill whatever role (coach) Tyronn Lue asks him to play,” Frank said. “He wants to be part of the group and we’re fortunate to have him back.”

The Clippers want to preserve Harden, who played nearly 2,800 minutes last season at age 35 in his 16th NBA season. They view Paul as insurance against injuries that typically impact a roster during an 82-game season, plus the playoffs.

“Role awareness, especially in this next roster spot, will be critical,” Frank said.

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Curtis Jones and the Nuggets have agreed to a two-way contract that will keep him with the franchise for the 2025-26 season, a league source confirmed Sunday afternoon.

Jones led the Nuggets in scoring over five games the past two weeks in Las Vegas, averaging 14.6 points on 54.9% shooting from the field and 46.7% from 3-point range. The undrafted rookie out of Iowa State also averaged 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists for the Summer Nuggets, who went 2-3 in Sin City.

Jones played four college seasons between Buffalo and Iowa State. The 6-foot-5 guard came off the bench for the majority of his 71 games with the Cyclones over the past two seasons, culminating in a senior year that saw him earn Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors while averaging 17.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists on 43.0% shooting.

With his addition, the Nuggets have now filled all three of their two-way slots on the roster. Second-year forward Spencer Jones and rookie guard Tamar Bates account for the other two spots. The two-way signing does not affect the team’s 15-man roster, however, meaning Denver still has one open roster spot that it can either choose to fill or leave open.

Nuggets executive Ben Tenzer told reporters on Friday that the team did not feel any pressure to address that opening before training camp in late September.

“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.”

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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.

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The shirts come after the players and the league failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement at an in-person meeting Thursday. The league’s players opted out of their last CBA in October, and are looking for a better revenue-sharing model, increased salaries, improved benefits and a softer salary cap.

“I’m just so inspired by the amount of players that showed up, the engagement that was there,” WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike said. “That’s really what it’s all about. Because the more that happens, the more that we’re going to be able to get things done. I think today we’re going to be able to use this conversation to start rolling the ball on things.”

After the failed negotiations, many players said there was a large discrepancy between what they wanted and what the league was offering. If a new CBA is not reached by October some players, including All-Stars Napheesa Collier and Angel Reese, have mentioned the potential of a walkout.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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Much as we love our Buc-ee’s brisket, that smiling beaver will never make a pizza as good as the ones you can grab from a Casey’s General Store. (Of which there are none within 180 miles of downtown Denver. More’s the pity.)

At any rate, our Midwest peeps still drop a line now and again. Especially when a local fave hits our fair shores.

“Watch out for Curtis Jones,” somebody wrote us two weeks ago.

“Enjoy Curtis Jones,” wrote another.

“You’re going to love Curtis Jones,” wrote yet another.

You know what?

They were right. On all counts.

Curtis Jones Fever — A

Jones is a 6-foot-6 guard out of Iowa State who the Nuggets added to their Summer League roster.

Long story short, he tore it up in Las Vegas.

On Friday night, Jones put the capper on an excellent week in Sin City by dropping 22 points, five rebounds and eight assists on the Lakers in a 106-84 Denver win.

From July 12-18, the ex-Cyclones star averaged 16.3 points, 5.3 boards and 4.3 assists over four Summer League games. Through five Vegas appearances, his assist-to-turnover ratio was 19 to nine and he shot 46.7% (14 for 30) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Our hoops wonks want to fall in love with the guy. Honest, they do.

It’s just that they’ve also been fooled before. One GTW staffer still keeps a Bones Hyland shirt hanging via thumb tacks at his cubicle, and Heaven only knows when he last washed the thing.

Although unlike our man Bones, Jones can play a little defense when he has to. Add it all up, and this much is becoming crystal clear: If the Nuggets don’t offer the former Cyclone a two-way contract, then some other NBA team sure as heck will.

All-Star swing-off — C

Would you want an NBA All-Star Game decided by a 3-point shooting contest?

That’s what Major League Baseball gave us this past Tuesday night, as a bonkers American League rally forced a 6-6 tie after nine innings at the midsummer classic in Atlanta.

And cue the history. In the latest wrinkle to prevent a repeat of that running-out-of-pitchers debacle from 2002, a mini home-run derby, or “swing-off,” was held to determine the winner. A batting-practice pitcher served up pitches to three hitters — the National League only wound up having to send up two — from each roster, as chosen by their respective managers.

On one hand, it was a complete sideshow. On the other, it was also captivating to see play out in real time.

A few days later, Team GTW is still kind of torn.

It’s just not — well, baseball. Shouldn’t there be a winning pitcher and a losing one? A swing-off should never, ever be used to decide a meaningful contest, let alone a playoff one. Never give commissioner Rob Manfred any leeway to blow up more traditional laws of the game than he already has. Full disclosure: Most of Team GTW still hates the extra-inning ghost runner, much as we also “get” it.

Still, it’s not a meaningful game, is it? It’s an exhibition. Knowing pitchers are done after nine innings means managers can try to get more of them in over the course of the game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Although we’d also wager that the next AL skipper is going to be more inclined to ask Aaron Judge to stick around after he’s pulled from the game. Just in case.

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Everyone reveled in Jamal Murray’s playoff excellence en route to a championship. But Nuggets Nation suffered as Murray has dealt with one injury after another the past two seasons, bad luck and poor early-season conditioning conspiring to make him look old at the age of 28.

Now comes a chance for a reset. An opportunity to make critics — myself among them — swallow their tongues.

Friday, as co-general managers Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer talked about the Nuggets’ upgraded roster, flashbacks interrupted the joy.

We’ve heard this before. The pieces are in place. Nikola Jokic is the best player on the planet. All that is needed is for Murray to operate at a season-long standard that meets the rest of our expectations.

Perhaps you heard: Murray will be the NBA’s 15th highest-paid player in 2025 at $46.3 million, the first year of a $207.8 million max contract extension. He is the only player among the top 26 to never make an All-Star Game.

Doesn’t this infuriate him? His contract has been called the worst in Colorado sports, non-Kris Bryant division. Doesn’t that disrespect fuel him?

Apparently, it does.

The Nuggets recently posted on Twitter pictures and video of Murray working out with the summer league team in Las Vegas. For a player who had a disjointed offseason last summer — Murray was recovering from multiple injuries while playing terribly for Team Canada in the Olympics — this represents a positive sign.

By itself, it was not a headline. This is: Word is Murray has also been playing in pick-up games in Las Vegas at the Wynn Casino, where the Toronto Raptors continued their tradition of setting up two regulation courts in a ballroom. These games feature heavy hitters, players capable of pushing Murray more than practices with future G-Leaguers.

This is the type of stuff that perks ears and widens eyes. The type of routine that suggests Murray wants to raise a finger after a championship, preferably the middle one.

This is what the Nuggets need: A motivated Murray, taking from his love of the UFC, from the glove tap to the final bell.

It is impossible to overstate his importance to a title run. He is the connective tissue that supports all the recent moves, binds them together.

Josh Kroenke acknowledged that the front office would push players to remember the sour ending in Oklahoma City, making it clear that attitude and effort were non-negotiable. Coach David Adelman challenged them to return ready for a competitive training camp designed to facilitate a fast launch.

“I think we can come back more ready to start the season. I would love for us to come back more ready to go,” Adelman said. “That’ll be the expectation, to come back in much better shape.”

He did not mention names. But if it were an ad lib, Murray would have filled in the blank. By all accounts, he has gotten the message.

Forget making an All-Star team. That has always been a mix of popularity and politics. The Nuggets need Murray to play like an All-Star. They no longer have the margin for error that existed in 2023, permitting him to ramp up his conditioning during the first few months.

If last season taught us anything, it’s this: Exerting so much energy to level up left Murray vulnerable to injuries and compromised in the playoffs. That version of Murray wins just enough to drive us crazy, making us yearn for the higher ceiling we witnessed during previous playoff runs.

Seeing Murray getting reps in practice in Las Vegas, hearing about him getting run in pickup games, suggests he is taking ownership and assuming the responsibility that comes with his contract.

Perhaps reminders from people he trusts helped. Or perhaps he looked in the mirror and recognized the truth. Jokic is the brains of the Nuggets, playing Peyton Manning-type chess on offense. Murray is the heart of the Nuggets.

Last year he showed up and played the first 20 games like he needed an angioplasty. If he arrives bought in, everything changes.

Teammates will feed off him. Including Jonas Valanciunas, a backup center the front office believes will report to the Nuggets and dazzle with his rebounding and passing. Including Cam Johnson, who learned to score off the dribble in Brooklyn and has the type of basketball IQ to maximize his time on the floor with Jokic. Including Bruce Brown, who is ready for a redux. And including Tim Hardaway Jr., who is already slobbering at all the open spot-up looks he will get in this offense.

If Murray sets the tone in training camp, as expected, then Adelman can focus on teaching his schemes to fast-learning veterans and not get bogged down in calisthenics and fundamentals.

The Nuggets wisely resisted the temptation to run it back with last season’s roster. They are better. But an existing player is more important than any new additions.

A mad Murray, instead of a maddening Murray, holds the key to another championship.

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Man, it was fun, though. Right? Eighty-five days, pure bliss, from interim status to the Michael Porter Jr. trade. We’ll always have Sacramento, Coach. We’ll always have Inglewood.

“I want to win,” new Nuggets forward Cam Johnson said Friday at Ball Arena during an introductory news conference. “At the end of the day, I want to win. I want to win a championship. And obviously, we have the pieces to do it here. And that’s what I’m most excited about.”

From here on out, DA, it’s business time. Adelman salvaged the spring admirably. He hopped onto a moving train and kept it from careening into the play-in round. He survived the Clippers, then pushed the best team in basketball — the Oklahoma City Thunder — to seven games with a beat-up roster.

Fast forward seven weeks, and DA’s got more tools, sharper tools, in his shed to play with. And fewer excuses. The Nuggets’ VP tag team of Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer, on paper, knocked their first try at Jokic Era 2.0 out of the park, flipping two bad contracts (MPJ and Dario Saric) into four good players.

Come to think of it, this is how the Nuggets should’ve looked in 2023-24, when they were coming off a title run. Instead, ex-GM Calvin Booth went young, pooh-poohing the importance of a repeat in favor of a five-year plan. Naturally, it went wheels-up in about two.

Now Adelman’s been handed the kind of rotation his old boss, Michael Malone, always wanted.

“I mean, look, we’re sitting here in July right now,” Wallace offered Friday. “We think we’ve given ourselves a chance to give (Adelman) some tools, to have some resources to where we can be competitive. Obviously, the season has to play itself out.

“But do we feel confident? Yes. But like I said, there’s a lot of basketball to be played. These guys have to gel. (Adelman’s) got to put his new philosophies in. So, time will tell.”

Jonzer did their job. The ball, literally and figuratively, is in DA’s court. The better the roster, the hotter those stage lights burn.

Fair? When you’re a caretaker for the basketball legacy of the best player in the world, “fair” no longer applies. The Nuggets have finally backed up the Joker again with a supporting cast that’s no worse than third-best in the brutal, unforgiving Western Conference.

Adelman was rightfully applauded for guiding the wounded Nuggets through May and into a second-round exit. If they’re eliminated before the conference Finals next spring, he’ll be pilloried. And justifiably.

“I wouldn’t say I’m nervous because there are still enough basketball minds around,” former NBA forward and current NBA TV analyst Dennis Scott told me recently. “Settling on Adelman being the head coach, if I’m being honest, I think it’s a safe move because he knows where the bodies are buried. The guys know who he is. You’re not bringing in a brand new voice trying to change things overnight.”

Meanwhile, how cheesed off must Malone be right about now?

April’s Nuggets went six deep on a good day and ran out of gas, just like in 2024. July’s Nuggets, assuming center Jonas Valanciunas comes to his senses, have the juice to match the Thunder and Timberwolves, body for body. Shooter for shooter. Veteran for veteran.

One of those veterans, the amiable, 29-year-old Johnson, said the quiet part out loud a bunch Friday. The Nuggets’ newest catch-and-shoot threat uttered the word “championship” four times over about 20 minutes of back-and-forth with reporters. He said “win” or “winning” on seven different occasions.

Johnson even noted that the stakes hit him, of all places, while noshing at a breakfast spot in greater Phoenix, not long after the Nuggets-Nets trade was reported. A table of Denver fans recognized him and made a giddy approach.

“This whole table, I’m talking 10 old people, were shaking,” Johnson recalled.

Other than that, coach? No pressure. It’s now or never. And as Lisa Marie’s dad once sang, tomorrow will be too darn late.

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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.”

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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.

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