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Nuggets Make Announcement on Former Champion During Free Agency

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Zachary Rainey | Last updated Jul 9, 2025 7:21 PM ET

The Denver Nuggets have been busy making moves, and not just in the offseason. The first of the significant moves came at an alarming time, when they chose to fire both head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth just before the conclusion of the regular season.

That meant that the Nuggets, who earned the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, would be entering the NBA Playoffs with David Adelman in an interim role. Some believed the move would come back to bite the Nuggets. Instead, they defeated the then-red-hot Los Angeles Clippers in a grueling seven-game series in the first round.

Nuggets make announcement on former champion during free agency

While they were eventually eliminated from the playoffs in the second round, they pushed the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games, displaying that they were just a few moves away from contending for a title again next season.

Once free agency opened, the Nuggets remained active, bringing back their fan-favorite guard Bruce Brown, who helped the Nuggets win a championship in 2023.

"Bruce Brown is coming back to Denver," the Nuggets posted on X.com.

BRUCE BROWN IS COMING BACK TO DENVER ️ pic.twitter.com/1TE6xm9061
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) July 9, 2025

During the NBA Finals, Brown averaged 11.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and one assist and steal per game. His most significant moment came in Game 4, when he scored 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

The Nuggets made another significant move when they traded Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 unprotected first-round draft pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson. Johnson averaged a career-high 18.8 points per game on a career-best 47.5% shooting percentage.

Between those two moves, the Nuggets are now expected to contend in a loaded Western Conference and have the third-best odds to win the conference next season behind only the defending champion Thunder and the Houston Rockets.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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