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Nuggets add Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks championship teammate as coach

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Jaren Kawada | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 10:25 AM ET

J.J. Barea spent 11 of his 14 NBA seasons with the Dallas Mavericks but will return to the league in 2025-2026 with the Denver Nuggets. Now a full-time coach, the retired point guard, who spent many seasons alongside Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, will join David Adelman’s staff.

Barea will become an assistant coach under Adelman in the 2025-2026 season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported. Barea briefly played for Adelman from 2011 to 2014 with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Adelman was an assistant coach at the time, working for his father, Rick Adelman.

Barea averaged just 8.9 points and 3.9 assists per game in his NBA career and will never see his jersey in the rafters of the American Airlines Center. Yet, he is a player all Mavericks fans know and love. Barea got his start in Dallas as an undrafted free agent and quickly established himself as a valuable backup point guard, serving as the team’s sixth man during its 2011 NBA championship run.

After his stint with the Timberwolves, Barea returned to the Mavericks, where he would finish out his career. He played his final year in 2019-2020 before signing a new deal as Dallas’ player development coach for the following season to kickstart his coaching career.

Barea spent just one season in the role before returning to his native Puerto Rico to finish out his professional basketball career with Cangrejeros de Santurce. He retired in 2022 and returned to coaching shortly after.

David Adelman filling out Nuggets’ 2025-2026 coaching staff

Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman looks at the score against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter of game five of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center. Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Adelman, who finished out the 2024-2025 season as the Nuggets’ interim head coach, will get his first shot to truly follow in his father’s footsteps next year. Since becoming Denver’s full-time head coach, Adelman has been hard at work creating his inaugural coaching staff. While he chose to retain most of Mike Malone’s former assistants, Adelman has made several intriguing hires, including Barea.

In addition to Barea, Adelman also notably added Rodney Billups to his 2025-2026 coaching staff. Billups, the son of former NBA star and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, has spent the past two years working as an assistant for his father. Before that, he spent five seasons as the head coach of the University of Denver.

As a Denver native, many Nuggets fans are familiar with Rodney Billups. Like his father, the younger Billups attended and played for the Pioneers after starring at the local George Washington High School.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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