October 5, 2026 · By Marcus · 4 min read
DeMar DeRozan has started every game he has played for 17 straight seasons. That streak ends this month. Nuggets head coach David Adelman confirmed Friday that the six-time All-Star will come off the bench in his first season in Denver, with last year's starting five staying intact.
"I don't think there was ever any doubt this would be the arrangement, but today Nuggets HC David Adelman confirmed the starting lineup will be same as last year, with DeMar DeRozan coming off the bench. DeRozan has already said he's willing to do that and his focus is on winning."
via Bennett Durando, The Denver Post
That means Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic open the season as the starting five, and DeRozan becomes the highest-paid sixth man in franchise history on a one-year, $3.9M minimum deal.
DeRozan in Denver, in numbers
- The deal: one year, $3.9M, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
- Last season: 18.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds across 77 games for Sacramento, with a career-efficient .594 true shooting.
- The drought: DeRozan has not come off the bench since his rookie season in 2009-10.
- The starters: Murray, Braun, Johnson, Gordon and Jokic. Braun signed a five-year, $125M extension last October.
- The hole he fills: Denver lost Peyton Watson to Cleveland in a sign-and-trade and needed a second-unit scorer.
- The recruiters: Jokic, Murray and Gordon were all involved in bringing him in, per Chris Haynes.
Why the bench is the right call
Denver's starting five barely played together last season. Braun, Johnson and Gordon all missed time with injuries, and Jokic missed a month with a knee issue. When healthy, that group was one of the most efficient lineups in the league. Breaking it up for a 37-year-old on a minimum deal would have been change for the sake of change.
The bench is where DeRozan actually solves a problem. The Nuggets have bled points whenever Jokic sits for years, and last season's second unit was one of the thinnest in the league. DeRozan does not need anyone to create for him. He gets to his spots in the midrange and hits about half of them, which makes him a self-contained offense for the 14 minutes a night Jokic rests. That is exactly what a contender's sixth man is supposed to be.
The fit question is defense, and it is real. DeRozan was never a stopper in his prime and he is 37 now. Lineups with him, Murray and Jokic together will give back points. Adelman will have to surround him with the roster's better defenders and pick his spots. A well-coached team can hide one weak defender. It cannot hide the minutes when nobody on the floor can create a shot, which is the problem DeRozan was signed to fix.
What this says about DeRozan
He was waived by the Kings after the first wave of free agency and waited out the market before choosing Denver. He could have chased a starting spot on a worse team. He chose the minimum, the bench and a real chance at the ring that has eluded him for 17 seasons. Players say winning is all that matters. DeRozan just proved it with his role.
There is also no drama here, which matters. The buy-in was settled before camp: Jokic, Murray and Gordon recruited him, and he told the team he was willing to come off the bench before Adelman ever had to ask. The last thing a contender needs in October is a future Hall of Famer sulking about his minutes. Denver does not have that problem.
The betting angle
The Nuggets are +2500 to win the title at both DraftKings and BetMGM, sitting around sixth on the board behind the Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, Knicks and 76ers. That number treats Denver like a good-not-great contender, and the market's biggest knock on the Nuggets has been the same for three years: nothing behind Jokic.
DeRozan does not fix the defense, but he directly attacks the reason Denver is +2500 instead of +1500. If the second unit goes from a nightly liability to league-average, the Nuggets' path through the West gets meaningfully easier, and +2500 starts to look like a discount on a team with the best player in the world and a real bench for the first time in the Jokic era.
The risk is the one the market already sees. DeRozan is 37, the West runs through the young legs of Oklahoma City and San Antonio, and one bench scorer does not close that athleticism gap. But at +2500 you are not paying for certainty. You are paying for the chance that the Jokic minutes finally stop being the only minutes that matter in Denver. This signing is the first real reason to believe they might not be.