The Nuggets have been crushed by injuries over the last few weeks, and they’re paying the price, especially on the defensive end. Without Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Cam Johnson, this is a perfect time for David Adelman to see what he can get from DaRon Holmes II.
Holmes was a first-round pick in 2024 out of Dayton, expected to come in and offer some solid inside-outside skills at power forward or center. But he tore his achilles in his first summer league action and missed the entire 2024-25 season, recovering from surgery.
This season, Holmes came into camp ready to go and played well at summer league. He looked like an intriguing frontcourt option to complement the skillsets of Nikola Jokic, Gordon, and Jonas Valanciunas.
But Holmes didn’t offer much in the preseason and looked unready for NBA action. He has been buried on the bench and has spent most of his time in the G-League with the Grand Rapids Gold.
Holmes lighting it up in the G League
With all the injuries and the Nuggets hurting on both ends of the court, it’s time for a youth injection and time to see what Holmes can do in the NBA. He’s crushing the competition for Grand Rapids, averaging 20.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game.
He’s also shooting an impressive 37.5% from three-point range while getting up 5.5 threes a game. Obviously, the G-League isn’t the NBA, but that’s exactly the type of player the Nuggets need right now at power forward.
In all likelihood, Holmes is a year or two away from cracking the rotation on a consistent basis, but there’s no harm in seeing what he’s got while guys are hurt. They’re already being forced to go deep into the bench and play guys who aren’t in the rotation. Holmes has more upside than all of them, and if he can get his feet wet now, maybe he’ll be ready to contribute later in the season, or even in the postseason.
If things were humming along, I’d say, why rock the cradle? But as it stands, the Nuggets’ defense is cratering, and they’re losing games in crunch time because the team is exhausted. They need to try some new things, and there’s nothing they can try that offers a higher potential reward than giving Holmes some real NBA run on this road trip.