MILWAUKEE — Controversy reigned in the corner of the gym. Zeke Nnaji was taking his turn in a free-throw competition against Russell Westbrook, DeAndre Jordan and Dario Saric after the Nuggets wrapped up practice Wednesday at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the objective was not simply to make the most foul shots — it was to make them via a perfect swish.
Almost every attempt was the subject of litigation. When Nnaji made one that may or may not have snipped the side of the rim on its way down, Jordan instantly waved it off, avenging his own side-of-the-rim make that wasn’t counted.
Nnaji was all smiles, enjoying the comradery and competition. Many of his shooting sessions this season have been in solitude. After home games, he goes upstairs to Denver’s practice gym and works on his jumper. After road games, he returns to the main court for the same routine. “I started this preseason,” he told The Denver Post, “and it just carried over to the season.”
Nnaji hasn’t wavered in his behind-the-scenes commitment, even while residing outside of the rotation for most of the season. Now it’s paying off in February. The Nuggets have used him as their backup power forward to replace the injured Peyton Watson, and Nnaji has been stringing together effective games. Monday’s win at Indiana was one of his best: 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, two blocks and a handful of other impressive defensive sequences.
“You’re always happy for any player to have success, but Zeke is such a remarkable young man,” coach Michael Malone said. “He really is. He’s such a good person. And you want to see guys like that have success when called upon.”
The last 24 games of the regular season, including Thursday (6 p.m. MT, TNT) at Milwaukee, will be an obstacle to the Nuggets — to their health, to their playoff seeding, to their collective mental and physical bandwidth. But the challenging schedule will also present more opportunities to experiment and evaluate bench players before the playoffs.
Watson, when healthy, is their seventh man. Julian Strawther has been their eighth — but his subpar defense has been enough to put a question mark over his playoff viability. “Teams are targeting him. I mean, let’s just be honest,” Malone said last Saturday after a loss to the Lakers. “Julian’s out there; they’re targeting him.” If he’s unable to stay on the court against ruthless game plans, will the Nuggets be able to withstand a long series (or three, or four) with a seven-man rotation?
It’s a common topic throughout the NBA this time of year, but Denver’s depth is particularly tenuous. In 2023, Christian Braun was able to reliably chip in as an eighth option, playing 13 minutes a game. Anyone capable of contributing, even in bits and pieces, could be essential to a deep playoff run.
Nnaji’s recent play has warranted the question of whether he has a chance to be that guy.
“Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, just continue to be present,” Malone said when asked if there’s a path to playoff minutes for the 24-year-old. “Continue to be in the moment. And I think Zeke’s done that. Ever since Peyton Watson went out, Zeke’s been called upon. … He’s stayed ready. He’s gone out there and done his job. And he’s shown that he belongs out there. So I have all the confidence in the world if I have to call upon Zeke Nnaji at any point the remainder of this season, I feel really confident about doing that. And so do his teammates. I think that’s even more important.”
Nnaji acknowledged that the playoffs have crossed his mind as a goal after Denver’s 125-116 win over the Pacers, saying, “I think any time you get an opportunity to play, your goal is to crack the rotation and show that you can contribute and help the team in a meaningful way. I think that’s always the goal.”
His defense has mostly passed the eye test this month. He’s showing he can guard big, versatile forwards on the perimeter. He can use his strength against them in the paint. He can switch. He can block shots.
His rebounding and his offense are easier to scrutinize. Denver needs him to have trustworthy hands, especially if he’s sharing the floor with Jokic and catching spontaneous passes in the dunker spot. And he’s still only 24.1% from the 3-point line this season, despite a more encouraging 37% clip in February. The Nuggets will already have very little margin for error with their spacing if opponents refuse to guard Watson, Westbrook and Aaron Gordon on the perimeter.
In any case, the returns on Nnaji’s minutes have been positive for a 10-game stretch now. He has said in the past that he feels especially comfortable at power forward. The numbers reflect that. In 137 minutes with him and Jokic on the floor together, Denver has a 14.6 net rating. In 77 minutes with Nnaji playing the four and Jordan at the five, Denver has a 12.6 net. When Nnaji plays without either center (120 minutes), his net rating is minus-32.1.
Of course, everyone enjoys the benefits of playing with Jokic and feels the effect of playing without him. Nnaji understands that.
“It’s great to constantly be building trust with the coaching staff and the players. But I think Jok makes the game so easy,” Nnaji said. “He draws so much attention to himself that you’re constantly wide open for different looks, whether it’s three or cutting to the basket or even just getting easy offensive rebounds because he has three guys contesting him. He makes everyone better. It’s fun to play with him.”
The combination that hasn’t been explored as much is a Nnaji-Gordon frontcourt. They’ve only played 11 minutes together this season and 38 last season with Jokic on the bench. (The limited results are not pretty.) Gordon has typically played backup center behind Jokic in the playoffs.
Nnaji is averaging 7.4 points and 1.4 blocks in the last 10 games since Watson’s injury. He may be asked to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo if their minutes overlap at all Thursday. It would be his most daunting challenge yet. But in a month that has already seen him floated by Denver as a trade candidate before the deadline, he’s rolled with the punches.
“This is probably the first time in a while that he has an opportunity to play big minutes, important minutes and a lot of minutes. He’s good,” Jokic said recently. “He’s decisive. When he’s open, he shoots. He’s aggressive. He’s attacking the boards. He’s still probably trying to kind of figure it out, but I think he’s doing a really good job.”
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.