After finally ascending to the peak of basketball glory in 2023, the Denver Nuggets have spent the last two years tumbling back down the mountain. As Denver heads into the biggest offseason in franchise history, the pressure is now squarely on Nuggets’ ownership.
On Thursday morning, Nuggets’ owner Josh Kroenke held a season-ending press conference where he announced that David Adelman would become the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets.
And if that news wasn’t enough, a former Nuggets champion made a very interesting Instagram post that teased an outcome Nuggets fans have been dying for.
The potential return of Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown was an energizer bunny and a fan favorite who helped bring a massive spark off Denver’s bench during their 2023 title run. Ever since he left, the Nuggets have lacked an additional ballhandler to take pressure off Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, who have both looked gassed near the end of Denver’s last two postseason exits.
If there's one new guy that Nuggets fans would love to have in Denver next year, it would be Brown, who can bring the fire of a Russell Westbrook without the airballed threes or head-scratching turnovers.
His Instagram story points towards an interesting development at the start of Denver's offseason. Could Brown be teasing a potential return, or is he simply congratulating a former coach? One thing is certain: He must be fond of Adelman; otherwise, why repost the news on social media?
So, assuming Bruce Brown’s cryptic post means what Nuggets fans want it to, is it possible that Brown could return to the Mile High City?
Brown might need to take a discount
Unfortunately, the NBA isn’t fantasy basketball. Managing a team is complicated, and with a roster that has four max players, the Nuggets have very little flexibility.
Currently, Brown is entering the last year of his contract with the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans has a team option, and they have until June 28th to decide whether or not to exercise it.
If the Pelicans decide not to keep Brown, he would become an unrestricted free agent, and the Nuggets could make a play for him.
Unfortunately, Denver doesn’t have a ton of cap space. The Nuggets are still paying for the mistakes of Calvin Booth, who inexplicably signed Dario Saric to a two-year, 10 million deal with a player option last summer.
Saric has a choice: Decline the option and play basketball somewhere in Europe, or take another 5 million dollars to do essentially nothing. Sounds like a great gig, right? For Saric, yes. For Denver, not so much. Unless something unexpected transpires, he will likely be back in a Denver uniform, taking precious money that could go to a player like Brown, who could be helping Jokic win another title.
The same goes for Zeke Nnaji, who the Nuggets extended in 2023 for 32 million over 4 years. Nnaji, who will make 8 million a year until 2028, is probably Denver’s worst contract, and like Saric, he did nothing other than collect dust on the bench in this year's playoffs.
Unless Denver’s next GM secretly blackmails Saric into not picking up his option, Bruce Brown is probably going to need to take a slight discount to come back to Denver. But if he does? Denver has a chance to make a lot of noise next year and potentially get back to the NBA Finals.
Brown is exactly what Denver needs
Two years in a row, we’ve watched the same heart-wrenching movie: The Nuggets starting five is good enough to win a title, but their lack of depth cripples the starters and they run out of gas in a crushing Game 7.
Yes, there’s plenty to blame. Cheap ownership, bad injury luck, the pesky CBA, and an egotistical battle between the now-fired Calvin Booth and Michael Malone are just a few things that come to mind. And now, the next general manager of the Nuggets is going to be facing an uphill climb to undo the mistakes of the previous regime.
Denver didn't lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder because they had a better starting lineup or more star power. They lost because OKC outlasted Denver in a battle of attrition, riding their superior depth, suffocating defense, and three-point shooting.
If Denver learned anything, it's that they don't need to hit a home run and trade for an aging superstar like Kevin Durant. They need to improve around the margins and find players like Alex Caruso and Carson Wallace to hold down the fort when Jokic rests. Bruce Brown certainly fits the criteria, but whether or not a reunion will happen is hard to predict.
But if they can find a way to bring back the rodeo-loving, cowboy hat-wearing Brown, it would start to rinse the bad taste of consecutive second-round exits out of Nuggets fans' mouths. So, whaddaya say, Brucey B?