We take a brief respite from the chaos surrounding the player movement of free agency to bring you some coaching news.
According to league insiders, the Denver Nuggets are making two new coaching hires, JJ Barea and Rodney Billups.
JJ Barea, a 2011 NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks, has agreed to join the Denver Nuggets as an assistant coach under David Adelman, sources tell ESPN. Barea will be on the front of the Nuggets coaching bench.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2025
Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Nuggets were hiring Barea, who has worked on as a player development coach with the Dallas Mavericks and as head coach of the Puerto Rican team Mets de Guaynabo back in 2023. Barea also spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves briefly under Rick Adelman, who is of course the father of new Nuggets head coach David Adelman.
In addition, Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype is reporting that the Nuggets have also come to terms with Rodney Billups, younger brother of Chauncey Billups.
Just In: Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman will add Rodney Billups as an assistant coach, Klutch Sports Group agent Andy Miller told @hoopshype. Billups was a scout for the Brooklyn Nets this season. Before that, he was an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers. pic.twitter.com/UEU649S0zO
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 1, 2025
Billups has most recently worked as an area scout for the Brooklyn Nets in and around Colorado, attending Nuggets games frequently throughout the regular season. He’s very familiar with the Nuggets organization and is someone the Nuggets were clearly comfortable bringing into the fold.
Both Barea and Billups represent a slight shift from the Nuggets previous coaching staff hired by former head coach Michael Malone. Gone are assistants Ryan Saunders, Charles Klask, and Popeye Jones, as well as player development coach Stephen Graham. The Nuggets look to have retained some of their assistant coaches from last year as previously reported, so how Barea and Billups fit in will be interesting.
Barea and Billups bring different voices to the fold, and perhaps slightly different perspectives. Both will be useful in the coming year, and I’m curious as to how Adelman will assign responsibilities for the upcoming season. With Ryan Saunders gone, one of the leading voices in Denver’s defensive schemes, the Nuggets may still have to replace him in some way. The Nuggets were previously reported as having interest in Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley, who might still factor into that defensive conversation.
Denver Nuggets to add JJ Barea, Rodney Billups to coaching staff Mile High Sports.
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