Denver's first-round exit puts pressure on the front office to revamp the bench around its MVP-caliber center this summer.
The Denver Nuggets went 54-28 this season and finished as the third seed in the Western Conference, which looked like the setup for a deep playoff run.
Instead, they were quickly eliminated by the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in six games during the first round, and it was the kind of early exit that forces a team to take a hard look at what needs to change.
Nikola Jokic did everything he could this year, once again proving he is one of the best players in basketball, but the roster around him came up short when it mattered most.
This offseason has to be about fixing the pieces around him, and the bench is where it starts.
Jokic Can't Do It Alone
Jokic averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists during the regular season and finished second in MVP voting behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Despite that, Denver failed to crack 100 points three separate times in the Minnesota series while the Timberwolves outrebounded them by nearly nine boards per game.
The Nuggets have a lot of questions to answer heading into the summer, and most of those questions are about depth.
Pending Free Agents
Denver's free agent situation is not simple. Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, and Tyus Jones are all unrestricted free agents who can sign wherever they want.
Hardaway was arguably the team's most important bench piece this season, finishing top three in Sixth Man of the Year voting after averaging 13.5 points on 40.7 percent shooting from three.
Brown and Jones could return on minimum deals, but losing Hardaway would leave a real scoring gap in the second unit.
The bigger question is Peyton Watson.
The 23-year-old wing averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 49 percent from the field and is now a restricted free agent expected to receive offers around $20 million per year.
Denver can match any offer, but doing so could mean trading Aaron Gordon or Cameron Johnson to stay below the second apron.
With around $212 million already committed to next season's roster, every move carries real weight.
Players Who Could Slot in This Summer
Even with tight cap space, there are paths to getting better.
If the front office waives or stretches Jonas Valanciunas's partially guaranteed deal and uses the mid-level exception, it opens room for a couple of targeted additions.
Josh Okogie would bring defensive toughness on the wing at a low cost, and Gary Trent Jr. has a $3.9 million player option with Milwaukee that could make him available as a reliable outside shooter.
With the 26th pick in the draft, the Nuggets could also target a three-point specialist like Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson Jr. to address their lack of shooting volume.
The core around Jokic is still strong, but the margins are getting thinner every year in the Western Conference.
Denver cannot afford another offseason where the bench stays the same and the result does too.
