Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:

NBA Insider

As much as Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer wanted to talk about the Nuggets’ pair of second-round draft picks, there were more pressing topics Wednesday night at Ball Arena.

The Nuggets’ executive tandem wasn’t as eager to talk about the ongoing negotiations with key pieces of last year’s rotation, but that doesn’t mean the questions weren’t asked.

Let’s start with Nikola Jokic, who will receive a super-max extension in early July. Tenzer said league rules prevented him from discussing the details. He referred to Jokic’s comments that he wants to be a Nugget “forever” after Denver was eliminated by the Timberwolves in six games.

“You’ve heard what he said about his happiness here,” Tenzer said. “We feel really comfortable with that relationship.”

It would be a shock if Jokic didn’t agree to the extension this summer. Peyton Watson’s situation is a lot more complicated. As a restricted free agent, Denver has the opportunity to match any offer sheet the 23-year-old receives, but they would have to shed salary elsewhere to do so and avoid the second apron, which appears to be operating as a hard cap for just about every NBA team.

“We feel good about where that’s at,” Tenzer said. “We hope Peyton’s here a long time.”

Watson’s not the only restricted free agent. Spencer Jones, who started last season on a two-way contract and received a promotion to a standard contract in the middle of last season, is in the same boat, though his next contract will be much cheaper than Watson’s.

“Spencer’s done himself a lot good, a lot of favors this past year, specifically how he stepped in, defended, made shots,” Wallace said. “He was just a big part of what we did, but we feel confident. He’s a homegrown guy. You want to reward those guys with them sticking to the plan and really developing themselves. We feel confident where we are.”

The last bit of housekeeping came down to Jalen Pickett. The Nuggets have until Monday to decide on the reserve guard’s team option worth $2.4 million for next season. Denver will need end-of-bench players on cheap contracts, and Pickett has proven to be capable of eating regular-season minutes without issue.

“Still evaluating,” Tenzer said.

Free agency unofficially starts on Tuesday.

What I’m Thinking

After 60 picks, the NBA draft has a few big winners and losers.

Winners

Atlanta

The Hawks managed to get a potentially elite one-and-done talent in Kingston Flemings and a more experienced big who could make an immediate impact in Zuby Ejiofor on Tuesday. Then, Atlanta selected Henri Veesaar, who many had pegged as a top-25 talent with the 52^nd overall pick on Wednesday. If Veesaar doesn’t have some undiscovered red flags, no team did better than Atlanta.

San Antonio

The Spurs had the benefit of seeing what the Thunder did with their picks, selecting Aday Mara at 12 and trading up to get Bennett Stirtz at 16, and responded appropriately. San Antonio correctly took a boom-or-bust swing on Jayden Quaintance at 20 and used a few of its many second-round picks to add an immediate contributor in Tarris Reed Jr., in the event Quaintance needs something of a redshirt season. Anything San Antonio gets out of second-rounders Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown is free money.

Chicago

The Bulls got their business done in the first 15 picks and took a couple of swings that could turn out to be home runs. Caleb Wilson, the fourth overall pick, and Dailyn Swain, selected 15^th, have the tools outperform their draft position – as long as they develop into serviceable jumpers. Chicago rightfully embraced high-upside picks at this part of their process, and could’ve hardly done better selecting two players with certifiable star potential.

Losers

Phoenix

Not only did Phoenix select a player who should’ve returned to college to refine his game, the Suns parted with three second-round picks to get the flawed prospect. Peat is strong, but there are concerns how that muscle works at the NBA level with him standing just 6-foot-8 and not being a shooter. He should get ample opportunities to prove the doubters wrong as part of a limited Phoenix frontcourt.

Denver

The Nuggets had a player capable of making an impact next season sitting right in front of them and decided to play the long game. That meant letting San Antonio, a roadblock to Denver’s path back to the Finals for the foreseeable future, swoop in and select Reed for a few second-round picks. The Nuggets spent one of those on Trevon Brazile and later picked Bryce Hopkins. It’s a coin flip whether or not either of the second-rounders become impact guys, while it’s almost certain Denver’s going to need a new backup center to replace Jonas Valanciunas.

New Orleans

Hey, it could’ve been a lot worse for the Pelicans. After trading their first-round pick without any protections to Atlanta during last year’s draft, New Orleans breathed a sigh of relief when the pick came in eighth overall. That left the Pelicans with one pick this year, the 58^th overall, which they used on Jaron Pierre Jr. At least they didn’t trade away Trey Murphy III to get their original pick back, but Pierre was a high-volume, low-efficiency chucker in college.

What I’m Hearing

Nuggets assistant J.J. Barea will coach Denver’s team at Summer League. Barea played 14 years in the NBA and was a member of the Mavericks 2011 championship squad. He joined David Adelman’s staff prior to last season.

What They’re Saying

A video from the Nuggets’ draft room, seemingly showing a moment of confusion, made the rounds on social media after it was shown on the ESPN broadcast right before the Nuggets traded the 26^th overall pick to San Antonio. Denver’s lead executives tried to explain that the uncertainty came down to some miscommunication with the Spurs’ front office.

“It looked like there was more of a miscommunication on our end. … It’s a pretty chaotic environment in general,” Tenzer said, adding the online reaction led to a few smiles.

“Those moments happen all the time. It’s just a lot going on.”

Wallace put it in simpler terms.

“It got blown out of proportion is what he’s saying,” he said. “

“It wasn’t an internal issue by any means.”

Wallace also spoke about DaRon Holmes II’s development. Given the Nuggets’ salary situation guys like Holmes, who played sparingly last season after suffering a torn Achilles at Summer League in 2024, and Julian Strawther could become much bigger parts of the rotation.

“Anytime you have an injury the way he had, it goes beyond just the physical. So, it was in a place where we didn’t want to push him mentally and make sure he trusted his body, he felt comfortable but also giving him the ability to do it at his pace. I think he should be commended for the way he stayed true to it, because a lot of guys don’t really return to their same form in that sense,” Wallace said. “On top of that, he’s been here every day since the season ended, working on his shot, working on his conditioning, working on his mobility. He’s a very important factor in terms of his lethal shooting ability. Anytime you can do that, you can find a place on the floor, but as we continue to develop his game, we’ll see how he fits in with other guys, but we’re very pleased with his development at this point.”

What I’m Following

• Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota for Naz Reid, a 2033 first-round pick, three second-round picks and three pick swaps.
• The Nuggets signed 6-foot-9 Missouri wing Mark Mitchell, 6-foot-6 Tennessee State Aaron Nkrumah and 6-foot-10 East Carolina center Giovanni Emejuru to Exhibit 10 contracts Thursday morning. All three should play on Denver’s Summer League squad and compete for two-way contracts.
• Denver’s second-round draft picks picked their numbers Thursday. Trevon Brazile will wear No. 7, while Bryce Hopkins selected No. 13.
• The Lakers and Austin Reaves agreed to a max contract extension worth $185 million over four years. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, the extension won’t impact the Lakers’ cap space this summer.
• Memphis acquired center Isaiah Stewart from Detroit in exchange for three future second-round draft picks.