Even the neutral NBA fan acknowledges what a wildly successful offseason the Denver Nuggets have had. And now, headed into the 2025-26 season, it feels like DaRon Holmes II is going to find himself with a big opportunity on his hands to be a major X-factor for this team.
We saw two entire seasons go by where the Nuggets' front office did a subpar job of building a winning roster around Nikola Jokic after this team won a title. That seemed totally inexcusable for so long, but now the narrative has flipped in a hurry.
Denver made one of the most significant moves of the offseason when they were able to flip Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson. That alone changed the equation for the Nuggets, but then adding several more offensive weapons and depth pieces on top of that just further supported the idea that Denver won the offseason.
All of Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas are going to be major needle-movers for this team. But at the end of the day, DaRon Holmes might end up shifting things for the better more than any of them.
DaRon Holmes can step into a big role for the Nuggets fast
It's fair to say Holmes is probably the most impactful player on this roster that basically feels completely forgotten about at times. That's understandable given that he was forced to miss all of what would've been his rookie season due to injury last year, but let's bear in mind this guy was a 22nd-overall pick. He was never just some afterthought.
Once he gets back on the hardwood, Holmes is going to have the chance to leave his mark almost immediately. The Nuggets have been needing upgrades at the backup forward positions, and DaRon will be able to fill that void in a big way.
Holmes is essentially going to be playing with house money in Denver. The Nuggets don't necessarily need him to become a big-minutes contributor. David Adelman can run him in lineups alongside Nikola Jokic and just let him do his thing. He's going to attack the rim, space the floor and be capable of guarding all over.
It's been the case for a while that Denver has been having to ask Aaron Gordon to carry a big load all throughout the regular season, and we saw how worn down he unfortunately was in the playoffs last season. With a guy like Holmes filling some of his minutes, AG will in theory be more fresh by the time the postseason comes around.
If the Nuggets can get solid production out of DaRon Holmes early in the season, it's not a stretch at all to think he could have the coaching staff seriously rethinking where he fits in the depth chart.