Top 3 Priorities for Denver Nuggets During 2026 NBA Offseason

On a night when the Atlanta Hawks’ season ended with a 51-point beating from the New York Knicks, the Denver Nuggets may have managed to outdo them on the “embarrassing closeout losses” scale.

The Minnesota Timberwolves played Thursday’s Game 6 without Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu, and they still bullied their way to a 110-98 victory.

And the Nuggets’ 2025-26 season is now over.

After entering it with title aspirations, Denver could easily be seen as one of the NBA’s most disappointing teams. They were seventh in the league in regular-season net rating and 21st in defensive rating. They got embarrassed by a lower seed in the first round.

Yes, injuries had their say. Nikola Jokić, Aaron Gordon, Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson all missed significant time. Gordon and Watson didn’t play in Thursday’s Game 6.

But even with that context in mind, Denver came up well shy of its potential. And that could mean a dramatic summer.

Given the Nuggets’ early exits from each of the last three postseasons, few would bat an eye over anything short of a Jokić trade. But it may be difficult to truly overhaul the roster through trades.

The last two front offices have already spent pretty much every available trade asset. So, what should be the priorities in this between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place offseason? The answer is below.