Depending on how things ended last spring, the NBA offseason either dragged or disappeared. After a Game 7 loss to the champion Thunder, for the Nuggets, it felt somewhere in between. Since then, the team retooled, trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, re-signing Bruce Brown, adding Tim Hardaway Jr., and securing Jonas Valanciunas as a reliable backup center. Fans eagerly await the first look at this revamped squad, poised to challenge for the title.
The Nuggets enter 2025-26 knowing the path to a championship runs through Oklahoma City, and it’s going to take more than Jokic brilliance to get there. They face 14 back-to-backs, with key stretches like November 2-3 home vs. Utah, at Phoenix, and March 7-8 at Dallas, home vs. Lakers. A six-game road trip from January 25 to February 4 tests endurance, spanning Cleveland, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Chicago. Christmas Day brings a marquee matchup against Minnesota at 10:30 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN. And it all begins with Media Day.
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When is the Nuggets Media Day?
The Denver Nuggets Media Day for the 2025-26 NBA season is set for September 29, 2025, at 11 a.m. Mountain Time, held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The annual event marks the unofficial launch of the NBA season. Before training camp tips off, players and coaches sit down with media outlets for press conferences, photoshoots, interviews, and team content. Fans get their first looks at offseason additions in Nuggets gear.
Altitude Sports will broadcast the proceedings live, with streams available on the Nuggets’ app and website, offering fans a chance to see Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the team address the media. With games starting October 30 at Portland. National TV expands to 15 games, with the opener versus Toronto in Vancouver on October 6 on NBCSN and a February 1 clash at Oklahoma City on Peacock.
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Last season’s 50-32 record and fourth-place Western Conference finish came amid turmoil, Michael Malone’s mid-season firing, injuries to Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., and a 43-point Game 2 playoff loss to OKC. Interim coach David Adelman, now permanent, rallied the team to avoid the Play-In and push OKC to seven games.
“You can’t just say, ‘Hey, let’s just have a mental day. Move on. We’re good, we split,’” Adelman said post-Game 2. “That’s not the case. If we want to win Game 3 things have to be different. In the NBA playoffs, a lot of the time the whistle and the way the game is played is who hits first. And I thought they hit first, second and third. … And tomorrow we have to be the aggressor, and I expect us to be.”
The roster overhaul addressed Jokic’s depth concerns. “I heard Jokić’s comments loud and clear,” Josh Kroenke said, noting the team’s reliance on starters led to fatigue. “We lean on a lot of guys for a lot of minutes in big-time moments and that has a cumulative effect. When you’re playing seven-game series that can wear you down.” Additions like Valanciunas, Johnson, Brown, and Hardaway aim to ease that burden, unlike last season when Russell Westbrook played 22 minutes in Game 7.
Storylines to Watch at Nuggets Media Day
The Nuggets promoted Adelman after he guided the team through chaos, firing Mike Malone midseason, rallying to avoid the Play-In, and pushing the eventual champion Thunder to the brink.“Part of the thinking of making the change when we made it was to give David a chance,”Nuggets governor Kroenke said.
“He’s grown with the group and he understands their tendencies as players. I think equally important right now … is he knows them as people, what makes them tick.” Leading Denver to three regular-season wins and a seven-game Clippers series, Adelman’s focus is accountability and communication. Media Day will reveal how his philosophies evolve with a full offseason to implement schemes.
Adelman won’t be asked to reinvent the wheel, just steer it better. He’s familiar with Jokic, knows what he has in Murray, and was around during the 2023 title run. Still, coaching Jokic means expectations stay at championship level, anything less is failure.
Nikola Jokic is fresh off a disappointing EuroBasket 2025, remains the team’s cornerstone. Serbia, favored to win, finished 10th after a 4-2 record, upset by Finland in the Round of 16. Jokic averaged 22.3 points, 9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.8 steals in 27 minutes per game, but Bogdan Bogdanovic’s hamstring injury and Jokic’s perimeter defense struggles hurt.
Against Finland, he posted 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. Jokic was brilliant individually, but his body language said everything, and that creeping realization that Gold might never come. That loss will hang over Media Day. He won’t say much but his presence says more than enough. Still at 30, with silver 2016 Olympics, 2023 World Cup and bronze 2024 Olympics, a FIBA gold remains elusive. “He’s amazing … to get to play around one of the best players, if not the best player of all-time,” Aaron Gordon said. Jokic’s three MVPs and Finals MVP fuel his fourth-MVP chase, but he needs playoff success.
Likewise, Jamal Murray’s consistency is critical. “Listen, I don’t believe in the coulda, shoulda, woulda, them youngins are right, but we’re coming right back around,” Gordon said, reflecting on the Thunder loss. Murray, often a slow starter, must deliver on his max extension. Unhampered by injuries this offseason, his workouts signal readiness. “When he plays well, he and Jokić create one of the most unstoppable two-man games in basketball,” analysts note. Media Day will gauge his shape and mindset to avoid last season’s 36.7-minute burden on starters.
Meanwhile, Cam Johnson, acquired for Michael Porter Jr., brings 39.2% three-point shooting and superior defense. “That’s a squad, especially with Big Val too,” Gordon said. “Big Val is gonna hold that down. That’s a boy. We got a squad.” Valanciunas allows Jokic rest, targeting 33 minutes per game versus last season’s 36.7.
Bruce Brown’s return, “Brucey B is back. Uh-oh. Might be problems for y’all, Brucey B is back,” Gordon said adds versatility from the 2023 title run. Tim Hardaway Jr. vies with Christian Braun for the starting shooting guard spot, where Braun’s hustle edges out Hardaway’s experience.
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Depth concerns linger. Jokic noted post-playoffs: “I think I was thinking that before I heard those words come out of his mouth. … We lean on a lot of guys for a lot of minutes in big-time moments and that has a cumulative effect.” Zeke Nnaji’s limited role to 12 minutes per game, 58 games max, making him a trade candidate to add rotation help, echoing the Valanciunas-for-Saric deal. Young players like Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett, and Julian Strawther must step up, especially with no draft pick.
Adelman’s push for aggression sets the tone. The West remains brutal, with OKC, Minnesota, and Dallas looming, but Denver’s depth positions them to challenge. Media Day on September 29 is the first look at a group that believes in Adelman’s vision, as the Nuggets aim to reclaim the Larry O’Brien Trophy.