Nuggets depth chart, projected rotation after losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The first night of NBA free agency wasn’t kind to the Denver Nuggets, who promptly saw one of their key players leave for nothing. Two-year starter and defensive ace, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope turned down a competitive offer from the Nuggets and agreed to a three-year $66 million deal with the Orlando Magic.

As of the time of this writing, the Nuggets haven’t added any free agents to the squad, only re-signing one of their own, end-of-the-bench veteran center DeAndre Jordan. There is still time for the Nuggets to act, and they must add players to the roster for any chance to compete next season.

Losing KCP does open up a bit of financial wiggle room as the team can now be more active on the trade market and can utilize the taxpayer midlevel exception along with minimum contracts. But as the calendar flips to July, here’s where things stand.

Players leaving:

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - signed with Magic via free agency

Reggie Jackson - traded to Hornets

Players added:

DaRon Holmes II - drafted 22nd overall

Pending free agents: 

Justin Holiday

Vlatko Cancar

Current depth chart:

Guards:

Jamal Murray

Jalen Pickett

Wings:

Michael Porter Jr.

Christian Braun

Peyton Watson

Julian Strawther

Forwards:

Aaron Gordon

Hunter Tyson

Bigs:

Nikola Jokic

DaRon Holmes II

Zeke Nnaji

DeAndre Jordan

It sounds like Vlatko Cancar is likely to return to the team on a new deal, but that would still leave two open roster spots and some gaping holes all over the roster. Christian Braun would be a logical choice to take the KCP spot in the starting lineup, but that would leave the bench extremely thin.

Bench minutes and production were already a weakness last season and this would only amplify the issue. If Braun becomes a starter, the Nuggets don’t currently roster a reliable sixth man, let alone 7, 8, 9, etc. The depth is not viable for a team that fancies itself a contender and changes must be made to keep the Nuggets in the mix. Here’s what a possible rotation would look like if no more players were added.

Starting lineup:

Guard - Jamal Murray

Guard - Christian Braun

Forward - Michael Porter Jr.

Forward - Aaron Gordon

Center - Nikola Jokic

Bench:

6 - Peyton Watson

7 - Zeke Nnaji

8 - DaRon Holmes II

9 - Julian Strawther

10 - Jalen Pickett

11 - Hunter Tyson

12 - DeAndre Jordan

If Cancar comes back he could potentially slot in somewhere in a bench role, but as you can see, that outlook is pretty grim. Not a single one of those players was consistently in an NBA rotation last season and Michael Malone didn’t trust any of them come playoff time to play at all.

Hopefully, the second day of free agency will go better in Denver and the Nuggets will be able to add some strong role players because as of now, as good as Jokic, Murray, and Gordon are, that’s not the rotation of an NBA Finals contender.