The Nuggets are making small moves.
The Denver Nuggets have made small deals their brand this offseason and they've just completed another one by signing guard Tyus Jones to a one-year deal to stay with the Nuggets for another season.
Jones joined the Nuggets in March 2026 after being waived by the Dallas Mavericks soon after he was traded to them and Denver scooped him up, adding another support piece to their roster where Jones averaged just 8.4 minutes per game.
The Nuggets have entered uncertain waters now at this stage of the offseason with the free agent and trade markets rapidly drying up and the Nuggets themselves even losing key pieces like Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Miami Heat and now they need to be more strategic then ever.
Adding Depth
With their roster looking depleted at this point, retaining Jones not only keeps some much needed depth for the Nuggets but it also means that Jones might have a more elevated role for the Nuggets next season as Denver will need another shooter.
Signing Jones to a one-year deal is an interesting insight into what the Nuggets' long-term strategy may be and if they're planning on securing some longer term deals and don't want to have to contend with extra years on the books in terms of Jones.
Small Steps Toward the Future
Overall, the Nuggets don't seem to have a concrete plan for the future of the team and with so much uncertainty ahead of them are instead taking things year-by-year until they've some bigger free agents or extensions, which in turn would give Denver a better sense of what the future can look like.
For now, the Nuggets have mostly missed out on the biggest names available so far this offseason and still have unanswered questions of their own when it comes to players like Peyton Watson, who they've still seemingly made no progress with.
Denver Nuggets guard Tyus Jones warms up before a game against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
Until they make progress on bigger names and have a better idea of what they're payroll is going to look like, then taking on smaller deals like the one that they made with Jones will have to be the norm for the Nuggets.
Small deals like this also reveals even more how much faith that the Nuggets seem to have in their existing core and further fortifies the idea that the want to simply bring back as much of the team from last season as possible rather than make major changes.
It's been a slow offseason for the Nuggets and they still have a lot more work to do, but for now they know that they'll be keeping Tyus Jones around.
