Nuggets bring back intriguing young forward for 2025-26 season

The Denver Nuggets have been lauded so far by fans and media alike for having a very strong offseason. Depth was one of the team’s biggest issues, but they addressed that in a major way, adding key veterans such as Bruce Brown, Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas. While the Valanciunas situation  still up in the air, it’s been a winning offseason for the Nuggets. In a smaller move, the Nuggets opted to bring back forward Spencer Jones on a two-way contract, as per Michael Scotto of Hoopshype.com.

This will be the second season on a two-way contract with the Nuggets for Spencer Jones. Jones went undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft, and ended up joining the Portland Trail Blazers for NBA Summer League. Following summer league, he signed with the Nuggets on a two-way contract.

As it stands, the Nuggets have two of their three two-way contract spots taken with Jones and rookie guard Tamar Bates. The nature of two-way contracts are fluid though and not necessarily set in stone for when the regular season begins. But barring any changes, Jones and Bates will be eligible for a maximum of 50 NBA games.

Jones didn’t see much playing time with the Nuggets last season, with most of his live game reps as a rookie coming in the G League with the Grand Rapids Gold, the Nuggets affiliate. He appeared in only 20 total games with the Nuggets averaging 1.3 points in a little over six minutes.

But in the G League, Jones played in 21 games at a little over 30 minutes per game. A positive sign for a young, legitimate NBA player is a strong showing in the G League, and Jones did just that. He averaged 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocked shots with splits of 51.8 percent shooting from the field, 45.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 71.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line.