The Nuggets may waste a season of Nikola Jokic’s prime after losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The Denver Nuggets Nuggets entered NBA free agency likely knowing that the remains of their 2023 championship roster would once again see significant changes.

This intuition proved correct as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope bolted for the Orlando Magic. He had played a very valuable role as a three-and-defense shooting guard for the last two seasons.

The Nuggets should remain confident because they have three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. He is someone good enough to potentially maximize an elder statesman like Russell Westbrook if the former MVP signed in Denver. As long as the generational point center is on their side, they will always be considered a top championship contender.

But after losing two important members of their first championship rotation in the last two offseasons — Caldwell-Pope and former Swiss Army Knife Bruce Brown — Denver is now in danger of potentially committing an NBA cardinal sin:

Wasting a season with the best player in the world on your roster in his physical prime.

"If you can be in a tough spot with Nikola Jokic, Denver is kind of in a bit of a tough spot right now." @WindhorstESPN on why the Denver Nuggets can't afford to miss out this offseason after losing KCP to the Magic pic.twitter.com/8UxiQfNI5a

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 1, 2024

To be fair to the Nuggets, they prepared for this exact scenario.

Denver general manager Calvin Booth knew the NBA’s new harsh second apron penalties would eventually force good teams to make audacious, tough decisions about keeping (or losing) contributors of their respective cores.

They’ve added names like Julian Strawther (a microwave shooter) and DaRon Holmes (a versatile and switchable big man) to bolster their bench firepower.

But the most important pieces are 2022 draftees Peyton Watson and Christian Braun.

Watson is a lanky, athletic shot-blocker with a promising (but untested) mid-range jumper. Braun is a twitchy, tough-nosed slasher and “winner” who helped lead his team to a national title at Kansas while in the NCAA. The two could ideally replace what Caldwell-Pope and Brown brought to Denver.

In the immediate future, the Nuggets’ outlook is predicated mostly on Watson and Braun. In due time, both may well become household names. By virtue of playing with Jokic, most diligent NBA fans could know who they are by the end of next season.

All of this is to say the cupboard isn’t bare. The Nuggets have pieces in the pipeline to stay relevant as an elite team that can hang with the league’s big boys.

The issue is that the Nuggets’ most optimistic outlook over the next year or so is all based on inexperienced projections.

I'm willing to bet that Christian Braun at starting shooting guard will be way better than people expect.

It's the depth behind him that concerns me.

— Ryan Blackburn (@NBABlackburn) June 30, 2024

Watson is already a lockdown defender, but his offensive game remains sloppy. He needs a lot more time in the lab and more opportunity to make mistakes in real games before he can be fully trusted on the other end of the court. As it stands, Watson getting any meaningful playoff minutes means opposing teams can sag off him and pack the paint against Jokic.

Braun has now been a core member of Denver’s playoff rotation over the last two years. He has shown he can make the little “hustle” plays that sometimes flip tight postseason matchups. Still, he has his own limits offensively, especially as a shooter, which leaves much to be desired and probably puts a cap on his ceiling.

The only way for Braun to really mitigate the loss of Caldwell-Pope would be for him to become a quality 3-point shooter at a high volume. He may well get there eventually in his career, but it’s a lofty ask for him to do so in roughly five months as he enters his third NBA season.

With Watson and Braun still needing fine-tuning, their ongoing critical development suggests that the Nuggets could take a gap year before rising again. Mind you, this gap year will happen during Jokic’s age 29 season (he turns 30 next February).

That’s far from ideal when a franchise is rostering likely the best player it’ll ever have.

I think it's safe to say Nikola Jokić has the best touch of all time pic.twitter.com/Ik8SpGZtdI

— Automatic (@automaticnba) June 28, 2024

Throughout his already iconic career, Jokic has shown an uncanny ability to consistently elevate his teammates more than the sum of their parts.

There have been select seasons where the Nuggets really had no business hanging around the top of the NBA standings — last year probably qualifies — and they were mainly only there because of Jokic’s brilliance.

But Jokic won’t be this good forever. In fact, I’d venture to say that there are only a few more seasons left, at most, of Jokic being an unguardable offensive machine who is always a few steps ahead of the competition. He will eventually decline, making it imperative that the Nuggets waste as little time as possible while they still have him firing on all cylinders.

Jokic’s presence alone might accelerate Watson and Braun’s respective timelines. And that, in turn, could help the Nuggets climb the NBA’s tallest summit again soon enough. They just have to be prepared to potentially lose a year of Jokic at his absolute best at the expense of their roster’s much-needed internal growth.

Something tells me they’ve already made their peace with that deal with the salary cap devil.