Nuggets’ G League Team Has Tipped Off

Closing in on 15 games, the Denver Nuggets season is in full swing. Yet another team vital to the Nuggets has just tipped off. The Grand Rapids Gold, Denver’s new G League team in Michigan, started its season last week.

Before this season, the Nuggets didn’t have a G League affiliate, but had been doing years of due diligence scouting the right place for a team.

To immerse its future players in the right atmosphere, the Nuggets wanted to find a franchise that can both win and attract crowds. Grand Rapids, the second biggest city in Michigan after Detroit, fit the bill.

Ben Tenzer, the Nuggets’ director of basketball operations, is helping oversee the Gold and its front office staff. The Gold are coached by former NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Jason Terry, and are off to a 2-2 start. They feature some other players familiar to NBA fans.

Lance Stephenson was selected with the Gold’s 13th pick in the October draft after returning from a season in China, and the 31-year-old dreams of a return to the NBA for a championship ring. Stephenson, who started his career on an Indiana Pacers team that reached the conference championship in 2014, last played in the NBA for the L.A. Lakers in 2018-2019.

The Gold also features Nik Stauskas, former NBA first-rounder and three-point sharpshooter. That’s one skillset the Nuggets sorely miss right now.

Nuggets guard Markus Howard is on a two-way contract that allows him to hone his game for the Gold instead of only seeing garbage time with the Nuggets. P.J. Dozier, now often the Nuggets’ Sixth Man, is another player who once logged significant minutes in the G League and illustrates the benefits of this development pipeline.

The purpose of the G League is developing young talent. Of the 15 players on the Gold’s roster, 11 of them are 26 or younger. Yet in addition to a coach like Terry, it’s helpful to have veteran on-court leaders. From the time the team hit the court for practices, Stephenson has been putting in significant minutes handling the ball, which he also did in China.

In an interview with Betway Insider, Stephenson says he enjoys playing the role of a floor general with experience for the Gold.

"“It’s always good to have an older guy there that has been through situations that the younger guy is going to go through.I can be that guy to teach them before they even make those mistakes. It’s always good to have a veteran guy there to help you and guide you through the right steps.”"

Yet Stephenson’s play is setting an example, too. In last night’s 121-110 win against the Iowa Wolves, he scored 19 points on 8-15 FG shooting while adding 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

That goes along with his defensive prowess, which could be helpful to the Nuggets down the road. Stephenson earned the reputation as a “LeBron Stopper” when he guarded LBJ in the 2014 playoffs against the Heat. Stephenson described that experience and how it was a team effort.

"“It was a great challenge. My teammates said: ‘Pick up on him, don’t let him get nothing easy, we’re gonna have your back.’ And I knew from the jump that they weren’t just gonna have me playing one-on-one with him.That’s what helped me a lot because I knew if I pressured him, I knew four other guys were gonna be there for me, be held accountable and have my back all the time.”"

Stephenson also has experience with LBJ as a teammate on the Lakers. Whether Stephenson ends up on the floor for the Nuggets or can offer pointers to others as Denver hits the stretch run, he could be valuable.

Any championship-caliber team would love having someone with Stephenson’s LeBron-stopping experience when facing King James and the Lakers in potentially huge showdowns.