The Bill for Denver's Passing Game Is Already Due
Denver's best numbers all describe the same offense — one built on ball movement, now paid for with money and draft capital it can't get back.
Denver has not played a game this season, so its clearest arguments right now are numbers, not results. Together they describe a passing offense that outran its own defense last season, financed at a price that has already claimed three future first-round picks.
+20.1
Last season, the lineup of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Cameron Johnson, and two connecting wings outscored opponents by 20.1 points per hundred possessions across 171 minutes together, the strongest mark of any five-man group tied to this roster. That kind of margin is what continuity is supposed to buy: five players who already know where the ball is going. Thirteen games is a real sample, but a small one, and it says nothing about who occupies those last two spots once the season actually starts.
10.7
Jokic averaged 10.7 assists a game last season, to go with 27.7 points and 12.9 rebounds, the connective tissue behind that plus-20.1 group. Murray added 7.1 assists of his own, so the two lead guards accounted for most of the playmaking inside Denver's best lineups. The number explains why Denver's best five-man units keep centering on him; it doesn't guarantee the ball movement travels to whichever wings end up next to him this fall.
121.2 and 116.0
Denver scored 121.2 points per hundred possessions last season against 116.0 allowed, a gap that produced a plus-5.2 differential, 7th-best leaguewide, while playing at a pace of 99.5 possessions, near the middle of the league. The number is built on outscoring teams, not stopping them, and a defense that finished 21st last season hasn't shown yet that it closes that gap.
$221.1M and three
Denver's payroll totals $221.1 million, sitting above the first tax apron, built on five contracts alone — Jokic at $59.0 million, Murray at $50.1 million, and three more starters above eight figures. The price of keeping this group together already includes three straight first-round picks, 2028 through 2030, protected away to Oklahoma City. The passing numbers above describe a team worth paying for; the picks describe how little room is left to adjust if they stop showing up.
What is Denver's payroll heading into the 2026-27 season?
Denver's payroll runs $221.1 million, which sits above the first tax apron.
Was Denver's offense or defense better last season?
The offense was: Denver scored 121.2 points per hundred possessions but allowed 116.0, finishing 7th in point differential on the strength of its offense, not its defense.
