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Denver Nuggets rookie DaRon Holmes II suffered a torn Achilles on Friday night in a Summer League loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Holmes is expected to miss the entire 2024-25 season due to the injury.
The injury occurred midway through the fourth quarter when Holmes attempted to contest a pass from Kobe Brown, but he landed on the court awkwardly and limped around for a moment before being subbed out.
The Nuggets used the No. 22 pick in the 2024 NBA draft to select Holmes. He was a three-year starter at Dayton and had the potential to get decent minutes off the bench.
B/R’s Jonathan Wasserman expressed optimism about Holmes because of some “key improvements” he made to his game last season in college:
“DaRon Holmes made improvements in key areas this year with his shooting and on-ball skill as a ball-handler and passer. Size and athleticism for finishing are still his moneymakers, but some extra shotmaking and driving ability have helped separate Holmes from other basic low-post threats and dunkers. There are just translatability questions about his flat shot, face-up play and defensive presence in the paint.”
Denver isn’t embracing a full-on youth movement because the core of Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon remains in place, but the team has made it clear some of its recent draft picks will get playing time this season.
General manager Calvin Booth was praising Christian Braun’s ability to take on a bigger role even before Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left to join the Orlando Magic in free agency.
Holmes likely wouldn’t have played a major role for the team, but he could have been a factor in the frontcourt rotation for the 2024-25 campaign.
The Nuggets still have Gordon and Peyton Watson as their top two power forwards going into next season. They could also use Porter in that spot at times when they want to maximize their scoring output.
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