DNVR Denver Nuggets Podcast
What did we learn about the Nuggets while Nikola Jokic was out?
31 Jan 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What did the Nuggets learn during Jokic's absence?
The Nuggets now 10-6. Let's talk about them without Jokic here. Incredible stretch. It was a soft part of the schedule, but you know what? We'll take whatever we can get. Denver did a great job of surviving this, and I feel like more than anything, the Nuggets grew in ways that now it gets so exciting to see what happens when Jokic's back, how some of these guys get to spread their wings.
But if you were to summarize the stint without Jokic, how would you summarize it?
spectacular i really do because in a lot of those games you could say it's the soft stretch the soft part of the schedule they were underdogs in in a lot of those games most of those games and other teams are healthy um going at them and giving them a a real feel and they found a way to win those games um and for years it's been the idea that this team is only about yokich and they will be a
Chapter 2: How did the Nuggets perform without their star player?
you know, a lottery team if they didn't have them. They've shown that they're not that. They also came up with one of the biggest, it came up with the biggest win of the season without him. That was a spectacular run, and I'm glad that they were able to figure it out, but dig deep, and now you have a coach who got to figure it out that now is getting his weapon back. How would you describe it?
Yeah, like reassuring. Like that the Nuggets bench additions were as impactful as we hoped that they would be. Like obviously they got so much more attention, so much more shine, so many more minutes. And Adelman learning a lot more about his bench, and so did we. It's like, who are the guys now that when you have your top horses that you can still count on to get good minutes?
Again, we just had a month of non-Jokic minutes, and they went pretty good. We had a positive plus-minus in the non-Jokic minutes, which is insane.
Chapter 3: Who emerged as key players for the Nuggets in Jokic's absence?
Negative plus-minus, as they pointed out, but a plus record. Because when they lost, they got blown out.
I didn't know we were tracking actual plus-minus.
We're not really.
It's 10-6. 10-6. Great numbers coming out of it. So, yeah, man. It does in many ways feel like everything that's happened up to this point didn't matter at all. And this is actually the start of the season. This is when we are now coming back. The people are coming back. I feel like the Broncos malaise has dripped off of us. That's true. And we're ready to be reborn in his image.
The crazy thing about all of this is that when Jokic went down, the Nuggets were the three seed in the Western Conference. Five games in the last column behind Oklahoma City. He returns tonight. The Nuggets are the three seed in the Western Conference. Five games behind Oklahoma City. Nothing has changed except for one thing.
They've actually got separation from five, six, and seven, which is crazy. Dude. Those teams have fallen. Denver has a little cushion. I mean, knock on wood. Two and a half game cushion over the fifth seeded Timberwolves. That's actually kind of nice.
There's a little separation. It's insane that that happened.
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Chapter 4: What insights did the Nuggets gain about their bench players?
Well, it's also saying a lot about that team, that the team got stronger in that stretch. They took care of business with missing guys. So, I mean, that's a big change. And now you get a hungry Jokic coming back and wanting to help his team out because he saw how they were battling. That's a dangerous spot to be in.
My hunch is we're going to see Cam Johnson and Christian Brown very soon, like eventually in the coming week or two, right before the All-Star break. David Alleman said he's hopeful that they're all going to play before the All-Star break. And part of me hopes that they come back one at a time. And the reason for that, look, I'd love them just to come back. Everybody be healthy.
I'm excited tonight that Peyton Watson is firmly the third option in the Denver Nuggets lineup. He's the third option. He gets to be aggressive tonight in the way that we have seen him excel as the number two option overall. Now he's the number three option in the starting lineup. And I think we're going to get to see some of what I've been waiting to see.
Now that he has a longer leash, what does it look like with Jokic? Jamal Murray's been spectacular. You just saw the numbers Cale put up. They were unbelievable. Well, now he gets to be more open and have a guy with a lot of gravity. Even guys like Spencer Jones, Tim Hardaway Jr., these guys have played well, and now we get to see what they look like in this role.
And then if you get Christian Brown back... you know, Nax or Cam Johnson. It's like, okay, now we get a different look. And then CB comes back. It's a different look. So part of me is excited that by virtue of being forced to do it, we're going to get to see lineups that I'm glad we're going to get a good sample of.
Yeah, and you'll be able to learn new things about that. It's going to be kind of stagger moments right now just because there's going to be configuration of lineups that are not going to be playing a lot of minutes together when the guys get back. But you also got to see how long you can put guys out there at the same time, and now you add Jokic to the mix.
So it just adds an extra body, which is the most important thing, not just that it's –
jokic but it's an extra body that they really need that is reliable that's consistent that you know is a constant but everybody else is going to be able to to say hey this is what i've learned to that and i just know that jokic is happy to play with these new toys yeah dude i'm very interested to see how this team's newfound confidence and success from the three-point line is translated into having nikola jokic be the center point of that like
Because in watching these games, there's a lot of times where it's like, man, just go five out, just get shots off. When they're guarding the three-point line, it's actually difficult oftentimes to even find a wide-open three-point shot. That shouldn't be the case with Jokic around. I just think that we're going to see a lot more confident shooting because it's just in their head now to do it.
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Chapter 5: How has Jokic's return impacted team dynamics?
He's a top five player that just so happens to be the sixth or seventh man for the Nuggets. Tim Hardaway Jr. is like in a groove right now. I just cannot wait for this team to slowly get back to form because it feels like an even new present. New chapter with a new present.
I mean, this counts. This is a new chapter. This is a new chapter.
Absolutely.
Get the bookmark out. This one counts. This is a clean new chapter. I mean, it's been wild. This past month, you are reminded, first off, what the rest of the league goes through. The Nuggets look like what everybody else's stupid basketball team looks like over the past month.
They don't have Jokic either.
Yeah, totally. It was good. It was fresh. Whatever. But now Jokic, like, are you kidding? And it was like pretty fun. But now it's like, okay, that was cool. That was cute. That was sweet. Like, all right, let's get to the real stuff now. Let's get like, let's start blowing teams out. Let's like, even at the beginning of the season, it didn't feel like we were ever like in full high gear.
I just, I cannot wait for the next gear to be hit.
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