In the first of many Denver Nuggets player report cards to come, the sample size is small, but these early trends in player performances could impact their rotation for November. These player grades will only be for players who appeared in 8+ minutes per game, essentially indicating that they were a part of the rotation when healthy for the month.
Due to this 8-minute cutoff, in the October report, there are only 9 players to grade. For future months, this number is likely to go up as players rest or deal with injuries, but for now, the perceived playoff rotation is all there is to evaluate… and it has some concerns.
The Nuggets lost their first two games of the season, both at home, against the Thunder and the Clippers. They then went on the road and struggled against two non-playoff teams in the Raptors and Nets, needing overtime in both games to win. 2-2 is certainly not the end of the world, but it is clear that some Nuggets players have started out better than others.
The grades will be weighted based on the specific role and expectations that the player had entering the month (in this case, entering the season). Which players are the standouts of October, which players are lacking quality thus far, and which players fall in between?
The honors program hoopers (A- grades or better)
Nikola Jokic: A+
There have been many question marks revolving around the Nuggets this season, but the 3x MVP, Nikola Jokic is not one of them. He is as dominant as ever and looks to be on track to another MVP-caliber season.
The Joker is averaging 31.5 PPG, 12.3 RPG, and 9.3 APG, to go along with 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. He has taken the term “stat-stuffer” to a whole new level. Not only are his numbers insane, but he is doing so on 57/55/78 shooting splits, which is insanely efficient. Jokic is perhaps the only reason that Denver is not 0-4 right now.
Christian Braun: A
After the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope departure, many NBA analysts did not believe that Chrstian Braun would be able to step in as the 5th starter without growing pains. Despite this, Braun has been an absolute delight for Denver and one of the few true non-Jokic bright spots. He has meshed nicely with the starting unit on offense and has strived on the defensive-end too.
CB has averaged 14.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 2.8 stocks per game as he continues to get comfortable with playing huge minutes for Denver. His 1.8 blocks per game leads the entire team and his 53.8% FG shooting ranks 3rd on the team. Even his shooting from beyond the arc isn’t half-bad, shooting 36.4%, good for 4th best on the Nuggets.
Next up, the middle-of-pack grades will be handed out to 3 specific players
The class average court-goers (C to B+ grades)
Julian Strawther: B+
The Strawther hype was strong coming out of pre-season and he has definitely played well in his 19.5 minutes per game. While he isn’t quite the mega spark plug off the bench that some Nuggets fans were hoping for, he has excelled in a limited role where not much is asked of him.
Strawther averaged 7.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG as Denver’s 7th man. These numbers definitely do not jump out at you, but his 60.0% FG shooting leads the team and he has connected on 55.6% of his shots from deep. It has been a solid start for the 6’7” wing this season.
Aaron Gordon: B
Gordon, who is now inked his long-term contract in Denver has had an up and down season thus-far with some aspects of his game being slightly better than expected and other aspects being slightly worse. On one hand his 3FG% and FT% are both in great spots at 40% and 85.7% respectively. On the other, he hasn’t been great defensively and has struggled at times.
Gordon has averaged 15.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 3.5 APG. His first two games were not pretty as he shot just 36.3% from the field and 1/5 from 3-point range. Against Toronto and Brooklyn, he has picked it up substantially and looks far more active offensively, drawing fouls and bodying players down low in the paint. The defense has been less steady, but should come soon.
Jamal Murray: C
Similar to the previous half decade, Murray has gotten off to a slower start than he and the Nuggets staff would have liked. With that being said, he has not been anywhere near as poor as his Olympic campaign and has hit numerous clutch shots this season, most notably hitting the game-tying layup with 0.3 seconds left in regulation against the Raptors.
The problem is that he is now on his new max deal so Nuggets fans are certainly expecting more from him and are wanting to see him step up in terms of consistency and high-level play in the regular season. Murray is averaging 18.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 4.8 APG, which are by no means bad numbers, but he has also been wildly inefficient, shooting just 38% from the field.
Now, unfortunately we must get into the more problematic areas of the rotation with the players who have not played well at all to start the year.
The problem players (C- grades or lower)
Michael Porter Jr: C-
Perhaps expectations were a bit too high entering the season for MPJ, but the offseason and preseason were definitely indicating that Porter Jr. might be more polished as a three-level scorer this year for Denver. Instead, he has been below average defensively and was not able to find his 3-point stroke for the first 3 games of the season, connecting on a mere 4 of 20 shots.
There have been two positives for MPJ this year however. His rebounding has been a true strength, averaging 7.8 RPG and his performance against the Nets, where he shot 6/11 from the field and 4/7 from beyond the arc may be able to get him back on track. Overall he is averaging just 13.3 PPG, shooting 29.6% from three and will need to pick it up soon.
Russell Westbrook: C-
It has been a tale of two halves for Westbrook as a Nugget thus-far. In the first two games of the year, he was abysmal for a combined -37 in 40 minutes of court time, shooting 2/18 from the field and 1/9 from deep. NBA fans and analysts were quick to jump on Russ about his poor play, but in the final two contests of the month, he did fare much better.
Against Toronto and Brooklyn, Westbrook has looked more poised and in control. In the Nets game he was spectacular, shooting 2/2 from three-point range and 10/10 from the FT line to score 22 points (adding 5 assists) in 21 minutes. Sadly, the veteran PG is at the point of his career where half of his games will likely be good performances and the other half won’t be.
Peyton Watson: D+
Transitioning to another former-UCLA player, Peyton Watson has also been tough to watch this year. In 15.5 minutes per game, the 6’8” forward is averaging just 4.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 0.8 BPG. He has also not been the defensive force that he was last season so far, but much of this could likely be boiled down to him missing the entire preseason due to injury.
Watson has seen the ball go through the hoop very rarely in 2024-2025 for Denver, connecting on 5/20 shots overall and 1/7 from distance (with many of the threes being wide-open). There shouldn’t be a huge concern at the moment about Watson, as he was great in the regular season last year, but this was not a good start no matter how the team may justify it.
Dario Saric: F
So… Dario Saric has been flat out bad. There’s no way around it. He has looked slow on defense, getting blown by constantly by smaller players, but has also been bullied inside by true centers. He has likely been the worst defender on the team, despite only appearing in 9.8 minutes per game.
Even on offense he has looked confused and stagnant as he tries to acclimate himself to the Nuggets and his new role and supporting cast. Across four games, he has 5 total points and has been a negative on both ends, so much so that Denver fans have been calling for Zeke Nnaji to get yet another chance over Saric… This signing by Calvin Booth might be a swing and miss.
Which players are graded too high or too low? There is a good chance these grades will ebb and flow in November, as the sample size of games and performances will rise dramatically. The Nuggets head to play the Wolves in Minnesota next on November 1st to try to avenge their game 7 collapse from last season.