The Nuggets signed DeMar DeRozan in August to a one-year veteran minimum contract, adding a proven scorer as they try to patch a bench that has thinned over four straight offseasons. At 37, DeRozan arrives as a six-time All-Star and the 18th-leading scorer in league history, the kind of veteran presence Denver can plug into almost any offensive group.
He is also walking into a team that has slipped from the top of the mountain since winning its first title in 2023. Last season, the Nuggets failed to win a playoff series for the first time since 2022, then lost Peyton Watson in a sign-and-trade and watched Tim Hardaway Jr. go to a free-agent market they could not match. That leaves DeRozan with a clear assignment: bring bench scoring and keep possessions from going flat when the starters sit.
That role fits the reputation he has carried for years. DeRozan has played for Toronto, San Antonio, Chicago and Sacramento, and teammates describe him as quiet, poised and serious about the game. But he has always had a sly edge too. In 2013, during a losing streak, he boarded the Toronto Raptors bus in a masked full-body Halloween costume while the team was preparing for a road game, and Rudy Gay later said he thought DeRozan was dressed as Pinhead from Hellraiser before realizing it was a prank. Gay called him a troll. Amir Johnson called him “One of the realest cats in the NBA.”
DeRozan eventually broke character and summed up the joke with the line, “It sucks to lose.” He went on to explain that when a team is going through it, sometimes the only thing left is to find some joy, have some fun and let the tension go. “At heart, I’m still a big kid,” he said. That mix of seriousness and mischief is part of why he can be both a steady locker-room voice and the guy who lightens the room when a season starts to tilt the wrong way.
For Denver, the question now is not whether DeRozan can score. It is how much of that scoring will come in the minutes that matter most when the second unit is on the floor. The Nuggets open Thursday in Oklahoma City, and the first look at DeRozan’s fit will come almost immediately, with the team trying to prove that a veteran minimum signing can help hold together a roster that has been worn down piece by piece.
