The Denver Nuggets are showing “strong” interest in Alpha Diallo, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com, and the window is short. The 6’7″ forward has an agreement in place to join Dubai Basketball for next season, but that deal includes an NBA opt-out clause that expires July 15. If Denver wants him, it has three days.
Diallo, 29, went undrafted out of Providence in 2020 and built his career at AS Monaco, where he spent the past five seasons and became one of the best defenders in Europe. EuroLeague head coaches voted him the league’s Best Defender this season after he finished third in the balloting a year ago. Across 42 EuroLeague games in 2025/26 he averaged 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 27.9 minutes; his 57 total steals led the league, and Urbonas notes he ranked first among forwards in points allowed per possession at 0.844. He won French league titles with Monaco in 2023, 2024 and 2026.
The interest makes sense for a Denver roster that currently has just eight players on standard contracts, but the mechanics are tight. Per Hoops Rumors, using any portion of the mid-level exception would hard-cap the Nuggets at the second tax apron, so a minimum-salary offer may be the ceiling — and Diallo presumably has better money on the table in Dubai. There is also positional overlap to sort out: Denver is still negotiating with restricted free agents Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones, who play the same wing-forward spots Diallo would fill. Whether the pursuit is a complement to those talks or a hedge against them is the open question, and July 15 will answer it.
For fantasy purposes, Diallo would be a defense-first bench forward on a minimum contract if he signs — no draft-day relevance in standard leagues. The angle worth watching is what a signing would say about Watson’s restricted free agency: if Denver adds a wing defender days before resolving Watson’s market, that reads as leverage, and Watson’s minutes projection is the fantasy asset actually in play.
