The Nuggets may be close to settling the biggest open question on David Adelman’s bench. Denver is viewed as an “increasingly likely” landing spot for veteran NBA coach Dave Joerger, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who reported Friday that the momentum has built since Joerger interviewed in June for the lead assistant position on Adelman’s staff.
Joerger has been an NBA head coach or assistant continuously since 2007, including head coaching stops with Memphis and Sacramento. He had a competing option overseas — EuroLeague club Paris Basketball pursued him for its head coaching vacancy — but BasketNews reported last week that Joerger prefers to stay in the NBA in an assistant role rather than take the move to Europe. Stein’s reporting suggests Denver is where that preference points.
The fit is easy to see from the Nuggets’ side. Adelman is heading into his first full training camp as the permanent head coach, and a lead assistant who has run his own program in two NBA cities gives him a second experienced voice in the room. For a team whose offense still runs through Nikola Jokic and whose margin for error in the West got thinner this summer, experienced game-management help is a practical addition rather than a cosmetic one.
Nothing is signed, and neither side has confirmed a deal. The situation to watch is whether an announcement lands before Denver’s veterans report to camp in late September — assistant hires of this profile rarely drag into the season.
For fantasy purposes, a bench hire moves no draft boards by itself, and continuity is the point: the Jokic-centered offense that makes Denver’s starters reliable fantasy producers is not changing. The Denver situation that actually matters for fantasy remains Peyton Watson’s unresolved restricted free agency, which will determine who holds the wing minutes behind the starters.
