Despite all of the hardship that the Denver Nuggets went through this season, they still fought their way to the 3-seed in a loaded Western Conference and even if their season ended prematurely at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening series of the 2026 playoffs, there's still clearly a lot of confidence in the existing roster.

When healthy, the Nuggets starting five was Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon and Cameron Johnson. However, that "when healthy" qualifier ended up being a major factor throughout this season. 

Between the five of them, the Nuggets' go-to starters missed a combined 136 games, with Gordon missing over half the season and both Johnson and Braun missing over 25 games each.

This litany of injuries forced head coach David Adelman to constantly experiment with different lineups as he would often lose one starter just as another came back or be without two or more of his starters at any given time. 

That process, while difficult, also revealed the talents and value of several Denver role players, most notably Peyton Watson, who was having a career-season before he too suffered a season-ending hamstring strain in the beginning of April. 

This level of injuries, especially with Gordon out for the majority of the postseason series against the Timberwolves, left the Nuggets with a strong feeling of "what if" and it's for that reason that Denver leadership is confident in the group they already have without having to make many changes in the offseason.

During the Nuggets' exit press conference with team leadership Josh Kroenke, president of the Nuggets and son of Nuggets' owner Stan Kroenke, said as much.

"I thought that if this group was healthy that this could be a 60-65 win team, but we never got a chance to fully show it," Kroenke said (via Nuggets). "That's why I say everything has to be on the table, including running it back. I really do believe in the group of people that were assembled in there this year."

There's already been lots of speculation about what level of activity the Nuggets will have this season in both the trade and free agent markets, with sources familiar with the team like Dan Issel speculating that their won't be much activity at all. 

With comments like these from Kroenke, it seems increasingly true that the Nuggets will have a passive offseason and simply hope for health and an adjustment in approach with their current squad to try and regain supremacy in the NBA.