Denver, CO
Nuggets Journal: Timberwolves no longer Denver’s matchup nightmare after blockbuster Karl-Anthony Towns trade
There are about 220 million valid ways to dissect the shocking trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York on the eve of NBA training camp.
There’s the unusual timing on both sides. For the Timberwolves, it was an abrupt severing of a core that lifted the franchise to new historic heights five months earlier. For the Knicks, it was a sudden change of direction shortly after plotting a clear strategic course that involved roster flexibility and a bunch of dudes who went to college together.
Then there’s the immediate impact on two title contenders to consider. The long-term ramifications for each team’s window. The questionable fit of Julius Randle in Minnesota. The substantial depth sacrificed by New York. The scoring punch of Donte DiVincenzo for a middling Timberwolves offense. The enormity of Towns joining a Knicks starting lineup that only needed a center. The financial uncertainty in Minnesota as an ownership war wages. The $220 million owed to KAT by New York as his supermax contract ages.
The list goes on. Seriously, it does.
This was a bonafide plot twist to the 2024 NBA offseason, worthy of M. Night Shyamalan. Now that the blockbuster trade is unofficially two weeks old, there’s been abundant time to process all the basketball and financial layers. And still, it feels like there’s just one aspect that matters in Denver.
The Timberwolves are no longer a nightmare matchup.
That doesn’t mean they can’t still beat the Nuggets in a series. And it doesn’t mean Denver is completely free of the matchup problem they presented in the first place. Nonetheless, the team that conquered the Nuggets is no longer the same, and that should lift a huge weight off the shoulders of Nikola Jokic.
Towns has been roundly critiqued over the years for his lapses in defensive maturity and propensity for committing avoidable fouls, but he was everything Minnesota needed him to be in the playoffs. He was often Jokic’s man-to-man matchup in the post, holding his ground against Jokic’s attempts to back him down and allowing Rudy Gobert to maximize his defensive prowess as a backside helper and rim protector. The double-big lineup was instrumental in Minnesota’s seven-game triumph over the defending champions.
The Nuggets’ starting lineup had averaged 125.9 points per 100 possessions during the regular season, in 958 minutes of playing time. No other five-man lineup in the NBA posted a higher offensive rating in more than 220 minutes. But against the Timberwolves, that same unstoppable Denver lineup was shockingly stifled in 136 minutes, finishing the second-round series with a 102.6 offensive rating.
Towns wasn’t the Wolves’ best individual defender by any stretch. But he was inseparable from the defensive identity that allowed them to prevail.
Now their double-big lineup options are limited to the duo of Gobert and Naz Reid, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2023-24. Reid is an outstanding player in his own right, but Jokic has devoured him in the post. Minnesota might be better off guarding the three-time MVP more traditionally with Gobert, but that matchup historically hasn’t gone well for him either.
“We’re worried about us,” Nuggets coach Michael said when asked about the trade last week in Abu Dhabi. “We don’t concern ourselves with what’s going on outside of our gym. We’re just worried about the Denver Nuggets and what we try to do on a daily basis.”
Smart answer. Malone wasn’t about to step on a land mine and give Minnesota free bulletin board material. Jamal Murray took that line of thinking one step further when he was asked about the trade the day after it was first reported.
“What trade?” he responded.
“I’m not on social media,” the point guard went on to say after receiving the update. “… I just worry about us. I don’t really care about everybody else.”
Towns was also a problem on his better side of the floor, obviously. When Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled to contain Anthony Edwards, Malone responded by cross-matching the immensely versatile Aaron Gordon against Edwards. With the Timberwolves playing two centers, that often left Denver with a smaller defender stuck guarding KAT in the paint. His 23-point, 12-rebound Game 7 performance won’t soon be forgotten in Minnesota.
Throughout last season and especially during the playoffs, much was made of the notion that ex-Nuggets GM Tim Connelly constructed the Timberwolves to be a perfect antithesis to Denver. It strains credulity to some extent, simply because the timelines don’t add up. Connelly’s original trade for Gobert that established the center tandem took place in 2022, a year before the Nuggets went on their championship run.
Perhaps he possessed a greater understanding than most executives, owing to his close proximity to Denver, of what the Nuggets were about to become. But if that was truly the driving force behind the Timberwolves’ roster moves, they’ve suddenly abandoned it awfully fast.
Randle is Minnesota’s starting power forward. Connelly’s frontcourt is smaller.
Enter Sam Presti, whose unfinished product of a roster last season already accomplished something intimidating. The Thunder were the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history. Then they threw $87 million at Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency. That philosophy on how to neutralize Jokic? It didn’t disappear from the league entirely. It just moved south.
Now it’s official. Oklahoma City has seemingly replaced Minnesota as the Western Conference contender that’s most threatening to Denver from a matchup standpoint. That’s the real plot twist of this offseason, accentuated by the KAT trade.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault is in a flexible position. Hartenstein might not start most nights. There’s just too much talent to justify using a double-big lineup every night, regardless of matchup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and now Alex Caruso are standing by. (Dort and Caruso should be even more horrifying for Murray to deal with than Minnesota’s elite wing defenders.) And Chet Holmgren proved himself to be more than capable of holding down the fort as a center last season.
But some opponents might demand a different approach. A proven approach. If a defender as wobbly as Towns managed to help wreak so much havoc against Jokic, imagine what OKC can accomplish with two 7-footers who both have excellent reputations at that end of the floor. Hartenstein is the muscle. Holmgren is Gobert. The Nuggets could get an early look at that coverage next week when they host the Thunder in a preseason game — or a week later, for the season-opener at Ball Arena.
But, hey, at least Minnesota shouldn’t be able to effectively execute that coverage anymore.
Originally Published:
Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.
“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.
In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.
Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.
“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”
DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.
“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.
The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.
“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.
This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.
“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.
The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.
“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.
The Denver Broncos hosted eight tryout players at mandatory minicamp this week, including quarterback Sawyer Robertson. It sounds like the team has made decisions on those tryout players, and Robertson won’t be signed (at least not right now).
Instead, the Broncos are signing offensive lineman Reid Holskey (according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) and cornerback Blake Cotton (according to the Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel). Holskey (6-6, 306 pounds) spent time on the Houston Texans’ practice squad in 2025 before joining the New York Giants in January. He was cut by New York last month. Cotton (6-2, 195 pounds) is a rookie who spent last fall at Utah, totaling 30 tackles and seven pass breakups in 13 games.
The two moves came one day after Denver wrapped up minicamp. The 91-man offseason roster was already full, so the Broncos will need to make corresponding moves to make room for Holskey and Cotton on the roster.
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Sean Payton has seen enough. The Denver Broncos’ third practice of mandatory minicamp, which was set to happen on Thursday, has been canceled.
“Just schedule-wise, today will be our last day,” Payton said after Wednesday’s practice. “I just finished telling them that. It’s unusual because there’s a lot of packing, a little bit more than normal when you’re moving into another facility. So when we’re back here, we’ll be in the new building.”
The Broncos are moving into their new state-of-the-art facility, but the decision to cancel the final practice of the offseason was motivated primarily by what Payton has seen thus far and how the team is shaping up.
Thus concludes the Broncos’ offseason training program, which featured eight total practices as a team, four of which were open to the media. There was more on-field activity than that, including walkthrough practices unseen by the press, but in essence, we’re talking about eight sessions.
Some players have already begun to separate themselves in their respective competitions. Others have really popped, while some have failed to really stand out in any meaningful way.
By way of a Broncos stock report, let’s get to the biggest winners and losers of mandatory minicamp.
Winner: Bo Nix | QB
Nix finally returned to the practice field on Tuesday, the first day of minicamp. He was limited to individual drills only, but it was still great to see him out there.
On Day 2, though, Nix took another big step forward, participating in a 7-on-7 drill that included a highlight-reel touchdown pass to RJ Harvey. Just getting Nix back on the field was a big win for the Broncos, but seeing him progress over two days and look overall very sharp was more than a little encouraging.
Winner: Jaylen Waddle | WR
Waddle has been a lightning rod since the practices were opened to the media. He just looks different. That speed and explosiveness really add an element to the Broncos’ offense that has been lacking.
It’s been palpable. But arguably just as exciting is what Waddle’s teammates and coaches have been saying about him. Payton has called him a “force multiplier,” which is another way of saying that he makes everyone around him better.
Not that we really had reason to doubt it, but Waddle has been as advertised thus far, and then some.
Loser: Marvin Mims Jr. | WR
Mims is not listed as a loser because of any specific negative plays, like a dropped pass or a mental miscue. It’s just that, with other receivers, including Waddle, shining, generating buzz, and earning plaudits from Payton, Mims didn’t really.
Mims is a similar receiver type as Waddle, but the newcomer made it clear how much separation exists between them in practice. Now, Mims is still important to the Broncos, especially as a returner, and Payton did compliment his clutch gene and contributions in big games, but you have to wonder how he fits into the game plan on offense. That question still hasn’t been answered.
Winner: J.K. Dobbins | RB
Dobbins was his usually talkative self at minicamp, but the fact that he was healthy and out there doing his thing is a major win for the Broncos. It’s good to have him part of the daily process at Broncos HQ again because he’s one of those veterans that takes players under his wing, and elevates them.
Winner: Que Robinson | OLB
With the recent off-the-field drama the Broncos have dealt with, some extra attention was paid to the Broncos’ outside linebackers. Robinson, in particular, separated himself during minicamp.
His get-off is something else, and he was dispruptive during the Broncos’ team periods. Vance Joseph has said he views Robinson as a “future starter.” Pending Cooper’s situation, the future could be now, though Elliss will also have something to say about that.
Robinson had one heck of an offseason. I’m really looking forward to his second year.
Loser: Jonathon Cooper | OLB
After being arrested twice in the span of a week, the Broncos excused Cooper from mandatory minicamp. It would seem the Broncos want to create some distance from Cooper until his legal troubles are resolved, one way or another.
It’s a shame, in more ways than one. Beyond what legal ramifications might await Cooper, he’s very likely to be suspended by the NFL, and the Broncos releasing him at some point is not outside the bounds of the plausible. It’s a good thing that rush linebacker room is stacked.
Winner: Matt Henningsen | DL
None of these winners has been quite as surprising as Henningsen. He made a huge play on Day 1 of minicamp, tipping a Sam Ehlinger pass and returning it to the house.
Henningsen followed that up with another disruptive Day 2. He’s gone from being an after thought in the Broncos’ defensive line conversation to establishing himself as a bona fide threat for the roster.
Loser: Jahdae Barron | CB
Like Mims, Barron wasn’t bad during the offseason; he just didn’t pop, really, in any way. He broke up one pass on Day 2 of minicamp, but beyond that, there wasn’t much to see.
It will be interesting to see how Barron performs in training camp. We know the Broncos have high expectations for him, and a role on defense, even if as a depth piece, will be created for him, but I was hoping to see more signs of a Year-2 leap by now.
Winner: Jonah Coleman | RB
Another as-advertised player. Coleman has proven he’s ready for the NFL, which was partly what attracted the Broncos to him in the draft.
Coleman stood out in a major way at minicamp and made it clear that the Broncos have more than just a J.K. Dobbins insurance policy on their hands. Coleman is a force to be reckoned with.
Winner: Tyler Onyedim | DL
Like Coleman the Broncos’ first pick in the 2026 draft has looked NFL-ready. The Broncos still haven’t signed Onyedim, but that didn’t stop him from participating in the offseason program, which is a good harbinger.
Rocking the No. 98 jersey, it’s easy to mistake Onyedim for the guy he was drafted to replace: John Franklin-Myers. That’s especially true when the rookie is out there making plays like JFM. Onyedim has earned praise from his teammates, including the All-Pro Zach Allen.
Winner: Evan Engram | TE
Engram looked very good in minicamp this week. He looked like a big, athletic, smooth, explosive receiver, which is what he’s been in the NFL.
Engram wasn’t really all those things in his first year with the Broncos, but I’m hopeful that Year 2 will be different for the two-time Pro Bowler. He’s had a good summer.
Winner: Troy Franklin | WR
Franklin seems like the obvious No. 3 receiver in the pecking order. That doesn’t mean he’ll get the No. 3 snaps on an exclusive basis, though.
As the Broncos’ No. 2 last year, Franklin wasn’t able to fully live up to that, although he took some big steps forward in his second year. As the No. 3, it’s more his natural spot and that should allow him to continue to thrive in the offense, especially with the connection he has with Bo Nix dating back to Oregon.
Winner: Sam Ehlinger | QB
Ehlinger had a great offseason. He looked way more comfortable and far sharper in the offense in what is his second go-around in Payton’s offense.
Ehlinger was sharp this summer, and if he can continue to build on the foundation he’s created, it could create some uncomfortable conversations at Broncos HQ.
Loser: Jarrett Stidham | QB
Stidham has been less noteworthy this summer, but that doesn’t mean he’s been bad. In comparison to Ehlinger, though, Stidham wasn’t as good, which is curious, considering his standing as the team’s primary backup since 2023.
If Ehlinger ends up leapfrogging Stidham, what do the Broncos do? They’re holding a competition for QB2, and they have to be prepared for the possibility of Ehlinger winning it, especially after his strong summer.
If Ehlinger forces this issue, Stidham could become expendable. Stidham is very unlikely to be a cut candidate because of his contract, but as a trade piece? There’s a reason the rumor mill has been active on the Stidham topic this offseason. It’s something to watch.
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