Denver was the sleepiest town in the NBA on draft night.
Both of them.
The only team without a pick in either round, the Nuggets stayed idle in a 2025 NBA draft that felt twice as uneventful thanks to the recently implemented two-day format. Limited in future resources and under new front office leadership, Denver decided it wasn’t worth it to trade into the draft.
With a dry laugh, recently promoted team executive Ben Tenzer admitted afterward that his 18th draft with the organization wasn’t his most fun.
In fact, the trade market was surprisingly dormant league-wide after widespread anticipation that a hectic two nights were in store.
“It doesn’t really make a lot of sense for us … to kind of jump in and get draft fever,” front office newcomer Jon Wallace said. “We were able to kind of sit back and assess what the landscape is, and we’ll try to make some more decisions from here.”
Still, the Nuggets did consider transactions in both rounds.
“We had our targets. We looked hard at those targets,” Tenzer said. “Had to evaluate where they would get to, could we get there? It’s tricky. But I would say we were moderately close (to trading for a pick) in a couple of different scenarios.”
Denver’s first-round pick belonged to the Orlando Magic, representing the final piece of the 2021 blockbuster trade for starting power forward Aaron Gordon. Orlando’s final return consisted of Gary Harris, RJ Hampton and Jase Richardson, who was selected 25th on Wednesday.
The Nuggets’ second-round pick was traded to Charlotte last summer in a move designed to shed the salary of former point guard Reggie Jackson. If Denver had wanted to trade into the draft using future assets Wednesday or Thursday, its only trade-eligible pick would have been a 2031 first-rounder.
Thursday night did end with a transaction, though. Missouri guard Tamar Bates agreed to a two-way contract, a league source told The Denver Post. Bates played two college seasons at Indiana and two at Missouri, averaging 13.3 points last season on 50.8% shooting from the field and 39.7% outside the arc.
Teams can sign three two-way players. Denver’s last season were PJ Hall, Spencer Jones and G League Rookie of the Year Trey Alexander.
“There’s a good chance some of the guys from last year are back,” Tenzer said. “We’re still trying to work through the players that weren’t drafted and kind of where they’re at with our situation from a two-way standpoint. We’ll look at everything, and I think there’s a good chance we’ll have some from last year back.”
The draft, which will be remembered most for Cooper Flagg going to Dallas first overall, took place two days after the Nuggets announced their restructured front office. Tenzer took over as executive vice president of basketball operations after a two-month stint as interim general manager, and Wallace was hired from Minnesota as executive vice president of player personnel.
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This marks the first time since 2013 that Denver has not made a pick. That was the year that Tim Connelly stepped in as the team’s head of basketball operations in the last week before the draft, similarly to the current duo. Denver proceeded to trade the 27th pick to Utah, which selected Rudy Gobert.
But even without a pick this year, the Nuggets will be adding first-round talent for the 2025-26 season. They traded up to No. 22 last year to select Dayton big man DaRon Holmes II, who tore his right Achilles tendon in his Summer League debut the next month. After losing his rookie season to rehab, Holmes told The Post this week that he’s planning to play for the first time back at Summer League in Las Vegas.
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