{"id":794289,"date":"2026-07-11T22:04:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794289\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T22:04:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:04:44","slug":"nuggets-notes-holmes-simpson-hopkins-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794289\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets Notes: Holmes, Simpson, Hopkins, Jokic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nuggets big man DaRon Holmes II<\/a>, a 2024 first-round pick, tore his Achilles tendon in his Las Vegas Summer League debut two years ago. While he\u2019s not on Denver\u2019s Summer League roster this time around, he did help the team prepare for the event as a practice player, writes Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen guys come in, especially for Summer League, everybody\u2019s trying to earn something. Everybody\u2019s trying to get that spot, so everybody\u2019s playing hard,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cFor me, that\u2019s what I need to be around, because that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do. I\u2019m trying to earn my time on the court. So, regardless of wherever anybody is at in their career, everybody\u2019s out here busting their tails to get to where they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes played a limited role in 2025\/26 in what was effectively his rookie season, Benedetto notes, averaging 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in just 8.4 minutes per game across 25 appearances. The former Dayton star is glad his major lower leg injury is behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say everybody goes through that process, just mentally feeling like \u2018Dang, I don\u2019t know if I can still do this the same,\u2019 but at the end of the day, for me, I feel great out there. I feel like I\u2019m learning new things about my game,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m learning how to play without being the most freakish, athletic guy. I felt like I was very athletic before. I feel like I still am. \u2026 So, I feel like it helped, in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have more from Denver:<\/p>\n

Two-way guard KJ Simpson<\/a> is hoping to help lead the Nuggets to victories in Vegas after his previous team, Charlotte, won the 2025 Summer League championship, according to Benedetto<\/a>. The 23-year-old point guard starred in college at Colorado. \u201cI understand the opportunity, right? People can look at it like \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve got to play Summer League. I already played,\u2019 but if I can just go out there and showcase what I can do, for me that\u2019s a win \u2014 not only for myself but for the Nuggets as well,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cBecause they get to see what I\u2019m capable of doing out there on the floor, how I can lead a team. I\u2019ve already done it once last summer, so I\u2019m excited to do it again. It\u2019s just a mentality. I\u2019m happy, and I\u2019m excited to go out there and hoop.\u201d Simpson recorded 17 points, nine assists, one steal and one block in Friday\u2019s opening loss to Houston, though he shot just 4-of-13 from the floor and committed four turnovers in 30 minutes.
\nSecond-round pick Bryce Hopkins<\/a> was impressive in Friday\u2019s game vs. Houston, tweets<\/a> Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The former St. John\u2019s forward, who has not yet inked<\/a> his first NBA contract, had 24 points (on 9-of-13 shooting), four rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 26 minutes.
\nExecutive VP of player personnel Jon Wallace briefly discussed Nikola Jokic<\/a>\u2018s decision to wait until next summer<\/a> to sign a new contract on Friday\u2019s ESPN broadcast, as Durando relays (via Twitter<\/a>). \u201cWe feel confident,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cWe trust him. \u2026 We\u2019ve got no choice but to.\u201d Jokic has said multiple times he wants to stay in Denver for the rest of his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nuggets big man DaRon Holmes II, a 2024 first-round pick, tore his Achilles tendon in his Las Vegas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,71655,4699,32219,3906,85],"class_list":["post-794289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-bryce-hopkins","tag-daron-holmes","tag-kj-simpson","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}