The 2025 NBA playoffs were a wild card for the Denver Nuggets. After firing former NBA champion head coach Michael Malone within weeks of the start of postseason play, there were a ton of questions regarding how they would perform.
Denver ended up beating the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games and taking the current NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the Western Conference Semifinals before being eliminated.
l asked Nuggets star Jamal Murray about his biggest takeaway from the seven-game series against the OKC Thunder:
“To be honest, playing seven games against them reminded me of playing AAU. It was like an AAU tournament out there. Everybody was young, athletic, flying around.” pic.twitter.com/ZehAJwFb6m
— Jordan Davis (@thejordancdavis) May 19, 2025
With thin depth around the core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon, changes needed to be made if they wanted to return to championship contention.
Denver had a very active offseason, making significant changes to their roster after Calvin Booth was fired alongside Malone.
The Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for versatile sharpshooter Cam Johnson, traded Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings for veteran center Jonas Valanciunas, and signed critical depth pieces.
The Nuggets have been active 24 hours into free agency 🔥
How far can they go in the loaded western conference? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Xz0ZhD1F3v
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 1, 2025
Fan-favorite Bruce Brown returned on a one-year deal, and veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr. signed a one-year contract after helping the Detroit Pistons to their first playoff series since 2019.
While Denver did not have any draft picks in the 2025 NBA Draft, they moved quickly to bolster their bench and add a knockdown shooter around Jokic in the starting lineup.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that the Denver Nuggets and forward Kessler Edwards have agreed to a deal.
“Edwards averaged 4.2 points on 49.6% shooting from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range in 40 games, including 18 starts, for the Dallas Mavericks last season,” Scotto said.
Edwards will be on an Exhibit-10 contract, which is a non-guaranteed deal with a training camp invite that can be converted into a league-minimum deal if he makes the team.
Kessler Edwards is a lockdown defender 🔒
The Nuggets are signing the 6-7 forward to a training camp contract pic.twitter.com/KcujUg3F4x
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) August 12, 2025
While the Nuggets await a decision on their backup point guard for the 2024-2025 season, Russell Westbrook, Edwards will look to make the team and be a solid wing defender and three-point shooter in the second unit.
Although Westbrook is expected to sign in Sacramento with the Kings, Edwards spent some time there as well, playing two seasons, including 54 games in the 2023-2024 season, while shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets are looking to get back to the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Finals for the first time since 2023 after two straight seasons of being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
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