Nuggets Analysis: Nikola Jokic asked for depth. By trading MPJ for Cam Johnson, Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace delivered ...Middle East

Nikola Jokic was blunt and unsparing when he needed to be throughout the last season. It was a relatively new development, a seasoned superstar learning to use his voice publicly, learning to feel comfortable with its sway.

When the Nuggets lost to the reeling Wizards last December and fell to 11-10, he suggested pay cuts as a method of motivation. It was in jest, but maybe not completely. Jamal Murray was off to a slow start, averaging 17.8 points on 42% shooting. He had signed a max contract extension three months earlier. Later in December, he turned a corner.

When the Lakers snapped Denver’s nine-game winning streak in February, Jokic immediately pointed out the low quality of recent opponents without fear of offending those teams. “Maybe we tricked ourselves into (thinking) that we are playing good,” he told reporters, a remark that still echoed months later when KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke claimed he had almost fired coach Michael Malone right around that time. “Winning can mask a lot of things,” he said at one point.

And when the Nuggets’ season ended after Game 7 in Oklahoma City, Jokic didn’t duck a postgame question about their lack of depth. “It seems like the teams that have longer rotations, longer bench, that’s the (teams) who are winning,” he said, pointing to OKC, Indiana and Minnesota.

Kroenke acknowledged a few days later that he heard those comments “loud and clear.”

The team’s actions since then have reflected that.

Trading Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson on Monday night was ultimately a transaction designed to help Denver get deeper — even if it was a one-for-one exchange of similar players.

The Nuggets traded their starting small forward (who’s not actually small) and best movement shooter for a new one, but they also handed in their only tradeable first-round pick for the flexibility to check another critical box.

The starting lineup was never the problem. Even in their second-round playoff series, which they lost to OKC, the Nuggets posted a 10.3 net rating in 142 minutes with their starting five on the floor. Jokic, Murray, Porter, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun had the synergy necessary to topple the eventual NBA champs.

The bench behind them was simply nowhere near the same standard. And the only way to meaningfully improve that was to make a sacrifice. Four players accounted for 82% of the payroll. More money needed to be allocated to other roster spots.

Porter, step right up.

The 2018 first-round pick will make $38.3 million next season and $40.8 million during the last year of his contract. His replacement, Johnson, is owed $21.1 million and $23.1 million in the last two years of his.

Denver wouldn’t have been allowed to make its second trade for Jonas Valanciunas without the first one. The NBA collective bargaining agreement prevents first-apron teams from taking back more salary than they send out in a trade. The Nuggets had been a first-apron team for two years running — until the Porter-for-Johnson maneuver. Suddenly, they were able to kill two birds with one stone Tuesday morning by getting off Dario Saric’s contract and using it to acquire a new backup center.

Of course, Valanciunas barely qualifies as a backup. He has started for most of his career. He is, at worst, an underwhelming but durable innings-eater.

Former coach Michael Malone once described Jokic’s rest minutes as “man’s search for meaning.” If that’s true, then mankind is closer to an epiphany than ever before.

This emerged as the net sum of Denver’s two trades: Porter, Saric and a distant first-round pick out; Johnson and Valanciunas in, with $12.3 million saved in 2025-26 salary. One rotation player turned into two. No skill sets sacrificed. One position of need added.

It’s a tidy bit of business by freshly hired executives Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, the Nuggets’ newest two-man game that’s giving Jokic and Murray a run for their money. Neither Tenzer nor Wallace had held an NBA general manager position before last week. As co-GMs, they’ve already proven themselves to be bold and efficient, no matter how next season goes.

Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. will both arrive in Denver on veteran minimum contracts soon as well. Those cost-effective free-agent additions were merely the icing on the cake.

Here’s how the Nuggets’ depth chart is shaking out after their moves, with 14 out of 15 roster spots filled:

Point guard: Jamal Murray, Bruce Brown, Jalen Pickett.

Shooting guard: Christian Braun, Tim Hardaway Jr., Julian Strawther.

Small forward: Cam Johnson, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson.

Power forward: Aaron Gordon, DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji.

Center: Nikola Jokic, Jonas Valanciunas.

Between their young players who’ve shown signs of promise on rookie contracts and their veteran newcomers, the Nuggets are significantly deeper (and cheaper) on paper.

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They should have genuine position battles in training camp, competition for minutes throughout the season. They should have lineup optionality. (Brown might make more sense as a wing, sharing the floor with a more natural point guard sometimes. Holmes might slide in at backup center to provide five-out looks occasionally.) They should have more opportunities to rest their starters without it feeling like the end of the world.

They should have a better chance to make it to the finish line healthy. To be at their best in May and June.

Jokic asked for depth, and he got it.

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