Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are reshuffling their front office following the departure of general manager Arturas Karnisovas to the Chicago Bulls.

According to Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic, Calvin Booth will be named the team's new GM.

Booth played in the NBA for a decade with the Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings.

Following his retirement in 2009, he spent three years away from basketball before joining the New Orleans Pelicans as a scout, working his way up to assistant GM with the Nuggets in 2017.

In taking over the front office, Booth will be tasked with continuing the roster-building success Karnisovas forged after years of mediocrity. That was mostly done through the draft, where Denver hit on picks like Jamal Murray, Monte Morris, Nikola Jokic and, most recently, Michael Porter Jr.

Booth was initially considered the front-runner for the job once Karnisovas left after developing a strong reputation both within the organization and around the league.

After five straight sub-.500 seasons, the Nuggets roared back into the race for the Western Conference last season, finishing 54-28 and atop the Northwest Division to earn their first playoff berth since the 2012-13 season.

Now it'll be on Booth to improve a team that's already one of the best squads in a highly competitive conference. When the NBA suspended play, the Nuggets were 43-22 and in third place in the West. That won't be easy with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the Los Angeles Lakers, while the Los Angeles Clippers continue to develop with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

Making matters even tougher, the Golden State Warriors figure to return to their contender status next season as the top of the roster recovers from a rash of injuries that derailed it this season.

Denver believes the Booth is the guy to lead the team through the next few years and is sticking within its own house for Karnisovas' replacement.

Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said the ankle sprain he suffered on Jan. 31 ended up being worse than he expected. 

The second-year player out of Missouri told Mike Singer of the Denver Post:

"I'm kind of using this time as beneficial to me, getting to rest that ankle. It was a pretty bad sprain, worse than I thought. It's been good to just be able to get my body back right and everything. ... I was playing through a lot of pain. Especially planting on it and cutting. That was tough for me. I felt like I needed to play, obviously."

Porter missed six games due to the injury before returning to action after the All-Star break, though his minutes were reduced before the league went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Porter is having a strong sophomore season after missing his entire rookie campaign, averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 42.2 percent from three. He was playing excellent basketball in January before the injury, averaging 12.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest.

That led to calls for Porter to get more minutes off Denver's bench, though the injury slowed his progress. But with the league suspended, Porter has had time to further rehabilitate his ankle and work on his game.

"I've literally been in the gym just as much as I was in Denver, which has been really good," he said. "I feel like I haven't really lost a lot. And it's been good for my ankle, too, because you know my ankle was still kind of sore."

Porter was the No. 14 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft but missed his rookie season while recovering from back surgery. He's undoubtedly an important future piece for the Nuggets and could even play a key role in the 2020 postseason assuming there is one.

For now, however, getting his ankle back to 100 percent is key. 

An unnamed member of the Denver Nuggets organization tested positive for COVID-19 on March 19, but after a two-week isolation period, that person is "symptom-free," the team told Mark Medina of USA Today. 

No other members of the organization have been tested, though they also underwent a 14-day at-home isolation.

Medina reported that the person who tested positive in the Nuggets organization went through state health care officials to obtain a test, not through private companies.

Per that report: "The Nuggets determined that no one in the organization would get tested unless they exhibited symptoms consistent with the novel coronavirus. The Nuggets are mindful of the country's limited test supply and have maintained they have followed state protocol."

A number of players and personnel around the NBA have tested positive for the coronavirus:

• Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz
• New York Knicks governor James Dolan
• Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart
• Detroit Pistons center Christian Wood
• Four members of the Brooklyn Nets organization, including Kevin Durant
• Three members of the Philadelphia 76ers organization
• Two members of the Los Angeles Lakers organization

There have been 234,462 reported COVID-19 cases in the United States as of Thursday, per CNN.com, though limited testing around the country makes the actual number of cases unknown. There have also been 5,607 deaths due to the coronavirus in the U.S. and 51,335 around the globe. The worldwide number of reported cases sits at 998,047.

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray apologized to his fans and said his Instagram account was hacked after an explicit video appeared on his Instagram stories Saturday night.

"First and foremost I would like to apologize to my fans," he said Sunday, per TMZ Sports. "My account has been hacked, currently working on the issue. Thanks."

TMZ noted the video was quickly deleted from his page.

Murray was enjoying an impressive season before the NBA suspended its campaign because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He averaged a career-best 18.8 points, 4.8 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals a night in 55 games while helping lead the Nuggets to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

The Denver Nuggets announced Thursday a member of their organization has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

"The person, who was tested after experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 on March 16, is currently under the care of team medical staff and in self-isolation," the Nuggets said. "The testing was undertaken following guidance from state public health officials and team physicians."

Denver was last in action March 11, losing 113-97 to the Dallas Mavericks.

Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive for the coronavirus, which led the league to suspend play indefinitely. Jazz star Donovan Mitchell confirmed he was diagnosed with COVID-19 as well, and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Detroit Pistons forward also Christian Wood tested positive.

The Brooklyn Nets announced Tuesday four of their players had the coronavirus, with Kevin Durant confirming to Charania he was one of the four.

Given the ongoing shortage of coronavirus tests and testing supplies, NBA teams have received some criticism for testing their players and employees. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio questioned whether the Nets should have received priority status:

The Nets issued a statement saying they worked with a private company for the testing process and concluded the step was "the responsible thing to do from a medical and epidemiological standpoint."

Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the situation with ESPN's Rachel Nichols:

According to ESPN's Tim Bontemps, the NBA sent a memo to all 30 teams that said they "must close their practice and training facilities to players and staff until further notice" to limit the spread of COVID-19.

As a result, players are left to work out on their own as they prepare for the possible resumption of the 2019-20 season.

The Denver Nuggets didn't make any splashy trades at the deadline, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. 

According to Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic, one of the top teams in the Western Conference was trying to put together a deal for Jrue Holiday of the New Orleans Pelicans. Here's why that didn't end up happening:  

"Denver attempted to make a major trade just prior to the deadline, according to sources. Jrue Holiday had been a significant Nuggets target, but the New Orleans Pelicans never showed interest to move him, particularly after Holiday made his desire clear to remain with the franchise." 

This is quite the "What if" in the West. Not only would the addition of Holiday solidify the Nuggets' backcourt, it would have completely altered the conference's race for the eighth seed.

Holiday—along with Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson—is one of the major reasons why the Pelicans even have a shot at getting into the playoffs at all this season. The veteran guard has been the team's second-leading scorer since the deadline, averaging 23.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists. New Orleans has gone just 5-5 over that stretch and remains five games back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed. 

Denver (42-20) isn't in dire need of that type of production necessarily, but at six games back of the first-place Lakers, it would've given the Nuggets a stronger chance to close that gap down the stretch. 

That neither Holiday nor the Pelicans were open to discussing a deal with Denver should speak volumes in New Orleans. The Pels clearly feel they have the makings of a contender with Holiday, Williamson, Ingram and Lonzo Ball. Holiday apparently feels the same way given how strongly he fought to remain in New Orleans. 

The Nuggets, meanwhile, added free agent Troy Daniels to their roster Thursday after he was waived by the Lakers. 

Troy Daniels didn't have to go too far to find a new NBA home. 

After the Los Angeles Lakers waived him Sunday, the guard signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. 

Daniels, 28, has averaged 4.2 points and 1.1 rebounds in 41 games this season. 

According to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers made sure to waive Daniels before the March 2 deadline to ensure he would be eligible to join his new team's playoff roster. Waiving him also gave L.A. an open roster spot, as head coach Frank Vogel explained:

"We wanted to maintain the flexibility to add a player if we need one, if we have a particular injury to a position. If we were to do something and cross that road at some point, and we had to use Troy's roster spot, then Troy would be left out in the cold. So we wanted to do the right thing by the player and also obviously give ourselves some flexibility if we need to make some type of move in the future."

The gesture of goodwill resulted in Daniels going from the first-place team in the Western Conference to a third-place Nuggets team that sits only 6.5 games behind the Lakers. 

The Lakers might have preferred that Daniels landed on a non-playoff team or in the East, but the Nuggets were already considered a contender before they added the undrafted free agent out of VCU. His arrival in Denver won't change that calculus much. 

The Nuggets visit the Lakers on March 15 in a nationally televised contest on ESPN. A revenge game may be on the docket for Daniels, but he'll need to earn some rotation minutes first. He averaged only 11.1 minutes per game in L.A. 

The Denver Nuggets did something Tuesday only one other team has done in a month, and guard Jamal Murray took responsibility for it.

Denver joined the Phoenix Suns as the only teams to lose to the Golden State Warriors since Feb. 3, and Murray said fans can "put that game on me" while offering words of reassurance:

The Warriors still have the worst record in the league at 14-48, but they held Murray to 14 points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field during their 116-100 victory. The Nuggets are 41-20 and sitting in the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings but took a shocking loss on their home floor.

It was a disappointing showing for Murray considering he has played well of late.

He averaged 23.6 points and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 53.9 percent from the field and 40.7 percent shooting from three-point range in the month of February and tallied 22 points with five dimes during Sunday's win over the Toronto Raptors.

His showing undercut an otherwise balanced offensive performance that saw five Nuggets score in double figures and Nikola Jokic challenge for a triple-double with 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Denver's defense was also largely to blame, as a Warriors team playing without Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green shot 51.2 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from deep with just 11 turnovers.

Fortunately for the Nuggets, they have an opportunity to turn things around in the next two games against the Charlotte Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers. They are a combined 26 games below .500 and largely playing out the string at this point.

Granted, that is also the situation the Warriors find themselves in this season after five straight trips to the NBA Finals.

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said his team played "awful" in a 132-103 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Staples Center.

"We were soft tonight from beginning to end," Malone told reporters. "They didn't feel us on either end. They got whatever they wanted. We couldn't run offense because they took us out of our stuff, and we just allowed them to do it for 48 minutes. They're a good team, but I'm just very disappointed in our competitive spirit and our effort."

Nuggets guard Monte Morris said veteran Will Barton took center stage in the locker room after the game and echoed the coach's sentiments.

"Will had a good speech for us, about five minutes, just about how teams think we're soft, and if they get into us, they can disorient anything we do," Morris said. "Our offense was stagnant from jump. They wasn't feeling us on defense. Going forward, these are the teams we have to beat to be elite. If we talking about championship, we can throw it out the window if we ain't going to show up in those games."

The Clippers outscored Denver in three of the four quarters and tied in the other. They shot 53.9 percent from the field, knocked down 18 threes, won the rebounding battle 46-39 and forced the Nuggets into 14 turnovers. No Denver player finished the night with a positive plus-minus.

It was total domination, an unexpected one-sided affair in a meeting between two of the top three teams in the Western Conference. The teams are now tied for second at 40-19.

"They sent a message," Malone said. "They came out and hit us in the mouth, and we never responded, and that's the most disappointing thing about it. We came into this game thinking it was just going to be a standard NBA game. They approached this game like something was on the line, and you could tell a difference from the jump ball all the way until the final buzzer."

The Nuggets won the first meeting between the sides in January 114-104. That game was played without Clippers star Paul George, who led all players with 24 points Friday.

"It's not even about how the game plays," George said. "It is about how we are prepared. Going into this morning, we were sharp, we were prepared, we were locked in. There was no slippage in shootaround, and that trickled into the game."

They'll meet again March 18 at the Pepsi Center in Denver to close out the season series.

Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic struggled during the first portion of the season by his All-Star standards, but he pointed to a new diet and workout plans as a reason for his lost weight and subsequent improvement.

During an interview with NBA on ESPN, Jokic said he dropped "around 20-25 pounds" as the season was happening because of the changes, which helped lead to his improved play.

To say Jokic failed to live up to expectations at the start of the season would be an understatement.

After all, he made his first career All-Star Game last season and was expected to lead the Nuggets in a daunting Western Conference race as a versatile big man who can score on the blocks, hit from the outside, battle for boards and facilitate as a willing passer.

However, he averaged just 15.0 points in five October games and 15.8 points per night in 12 November contests. He scored single-digit points in three straight outings to end November.

Since then, Jokic has averaged 20.8 points in December, 23.4 points in January and a head-turning 27.0 points during his first six games in February.

Denver is 38-17 and sitting in second place in the Western Conference behind only LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Jokic was an All-Star once again and is playing at a high level as the stretch run approaches.

If he maintains his current pace with a supporting cast of Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr. and others, Denver may advance past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign and just the second time since the 1984-85 season.