The Denver Nuggets won the Larry O’Brien Trophy back in 2023 to capture their first championship in franchise history. They’ve consistently reached the playoffs since then, but they haven’t reached the mountaintop again after playing their roster cards quite conservatively over the last couple of seasons. However, they took a swing this offseason with a personnel shakeup and enter their first full season with their new head coach. Can this team position itself for another deep playoff run in 2025-26?
As NBA futures markets go live on DraftKings Sportsbook, we’re taking a look at the Nuggets’ win total projections. At 54.5, that line sits fourth-highest among all teams. Read on to see which direction bettors should target.
If you’re interested in seeing any of the other NBA teams’ projected win totals, check out DKN’s master list of the full 2025-2026 NBA projected win totals.
Denver Nuggets 2025-2026 projected win total
Analysis
These Nuggets should remain one of the NBA’s top teams for as long as Nikola Jokic continues to take the floor for the franchise. The Serbian big man already has three MVP trophies to his name and arguably should have earned a fourth last season with one of the best campaigns of his career. The 30-year-old set new personal bests with 29.6 points and 10.2 assists per game while pulling down 12.7 rebounds. He also averaged two more career-highs with 1.8 steals while shooting 41.7% from three-point range. Jokic clearly still stands tall among the best basketball players in the world — he can turn nearly any roster into a playoff-caliber squad as one of the NBA’s elite floor-raisers.
Of course, he’s joined by a talented co-star in Jamal Murray, who also set a new career-high with 21.4 PPG while dishing out 6.0 assists per contest. We know what the tandem of Murray and Jokic can accomplish together, but they received reinforcements as the Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for one of the league’s best 3+D threats, Cam Johnson. The 6-foot-8 forward posted similar numbers to Porter Jr. last season but brings much better defense as well as an upgrade in on-ball creation, something Denver needed more of. With 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, Johnson provides a little bit of everything while knocking down 39.2% of his career three-pointers.
The addition provides some excitement for Nuggets fans since the team typically builds through free agency and the draft rather than trades. The front office did add another talent by trading for big man Jonas Valanciunas, who nearly left the NBA for Greece but said he plans to honor his contract and stick around in the Association for this year. The 33-year-old Lithuanian averaged a 10.4-point, 10.2-rebound double-double with two teams last season and looks like an upgrade over an aging DeAndre Jordan, who left in free agency.
Speaking of free agency, Denver did make a couple of quality signings by reuniting with Bruce Brown Jr. and adding Tim Hardaway Jr. The pair of wings play very different styles of basketball — the former slots in anywhere from the two through four positionally as a slasher and rebounder, while the latter prefers to operate on the perimeter and shoot from distance. Brown was actually a key member during the Nuggets’ title run and Hardaway can still contribute as a role player, so both look like quality additions to the rotation.
Denver does need another quality veteran point guard to run the bench unit, but the roster looks title-caliber otherwise. Head coach David Adelman knows his personnel after spending nine years on the Nuggets’ staff as an assistant coach before taking over as the interim down the home stretch of the regular season and playoffs last year. With a full offseason to tweak the scheme and get more comfortable as the lead voice in the locker room, this team looks like they should post a quality campaign in 2025-26.
Denver Nuggets projected win total: Best bets, predictions
Denver Nuggets over 54.5 wins (-105)
This pick wasn’t an easy one by any means since Denver posted win totals of 50, 57 and 53 over the last three campaigns. The Western Conference looks as stacked as ever, especially since last season’s No. 8 seed finished with 48 wins. In such a deep conference, winning 55 games presents a significant challenge for most teams.
However, the Nuggets truly improved their roster over the offseason by bringing in the four players mentioned above. They added that talent to a roster which already included the best player in the world, a championship-winning point guard and high-level complimentary pieces like Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun. It’s hard not to argue that Denver got better — plus there’s an argument for addition by subtraction since Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook’s shot selection no longer result in the team flipping a coin on any given possession since both are no longer on the roster.
The 55-win mark may not be an easy one to achieve, but the Nuggets look like a real contender once more. Ultimately, Adelman’s prowess as the successor to Michael Malone could determine the outcome of this win total. There’s no denying they have the talent to go over the tally, so I’m comfortable enough to predict Denver’s quality offseason adds at least five additional wins during the upcoming season.
