Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets:

NBA Insider

Despite being the last player named to the Olympic men’s basketball roster, Derrick White proved his gold medal was anything but a participation trophy.

The Parker native replaced Kawhi Leonard weeks before the tournament began and quickly carved out a role for himself. White played at least 15 minutes in all three of the United States’ group stage games. He played more than 17 minutes against Brazil in the quarterfinals and 7 minutes in the semifinal against Serbia. The final against France was the only game in which White did not play.

His best game came against South Sudan when White hit all three of the 3-pointers he attempted, finishing with 10 points and three steals. He recorded multiple steals and blocks in four of his five games and did not commit a turnover despite playing nearly 80 minutes in the tournament.

His shot wasn’t as consistent as White would’ve preferred, but his defense, ability to serve as a secondary creator and selfless approach offered plenty of value to a star-studded roster.

It’s another unlikely development for a player who started his college career as a Division II walk-on at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Now, he’s an NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist. Paris is likely to be the only shot to be an Olympian for White, 30, and he made the most of it.

“It’s crazy,” White told The Denver Gazette’s Mark Kiszla in Paris. “I was in the sports management program at UCCS, and they told us if you ever wanted to be a part of USA Basketball, you had to apply for an internship. Well, I’ve come a long way from that.”

What I’m Thinking

For a league that doesn’t have an injured reserve, the NBA should reevaluate some of the conditions of its disabled player exception (DPE).

The Nuggets have received DPEs in each of the last two seasons — one for Vlatko Cancar and one for DaRon Holmes II — but neither provides much relief due to the restrictions. Even though Cancar missed all last season and Holmes will miss all of next season after tearing an Achilles tendon in Summer League, the Nuggets don’t get an extra roster spot to utilize. All they get is roughly half of each player’s salary.

Cancar was on a minimum contract last season worth $2.2 million, while Holmes will make just over $3 million next season on the first year of his rookie contract. Half of each of those salaries fall below the NBA minimum contract. The best the Nuggets can do with that financial relief is sign a player off the buyout market in the middle of the season.

It feels like either creating an exception that would grant teams an extra roster spot for players who will miss the entire season or at least making the full amount of a veteran-minimum contract would be more equitable for teams who deal with season-ending injuries.

What I’m Reading

In case you missed it at the time, covered an all-time great game between Serbia and the United States on Thursday. His column met the moment.

Those looking for a more national read should check out Slam’s piece on NBA Twitter’s muse movement. Each player in the league apparently has a fan-run account to celebrate their successes. It’s an interesting look on who runs those accounts and why they choose to spend their time that way.

What They’re Saying

Rob Mahoney joined the Bill Simmons Podcast, and the two ended up discussing the best basketball minds in the NBA.

“In terms of control in these moments and who you want dictating terms, he’s still that guy,” Mahoney said of LeBron James. “He’s still if not the No. 1 option — you know (Nikola) Jokic is certainly as good at that as anybody — he has to be up there with everybody. He is so incredible at understanding the stakes of every possession in close games and understanding exactly where the ball needs to go.”

Later in the conversation, Simmons dished on his favorite non-Celtics, Jokic and Stephen Curry.

“I just love Jokic. He made a couple of plays when he’s just being double-, triple-teamed, they’re just beating the (crap) out of him, and he’s doing Jokic stuff and getting shots off,” Simmons said. “I was like ‘Man, if this guy pulls this off, this would be just incredible.’”

What I’m Following

—There were a few champions in a different kind of gym Friday. Peyton Watson and Michael Porter Jr. checked out Floyd Mayweather’s boxing gym and shared the photos on their Instagram accounts. Later in the week, Porter posted some snapshots from a workout with Hawks star Trae Young.

Met up with @FloydMayweather pic.twitter.com/sk6zepgELm

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) August 9, 2024

—Former teammate Bruce Brown gave Jokic his flowers after Serbia’s near upset.

“Big honey really the best player in the world!! Way to fight 15,” Brown posted on X after Thursday’s game.

—There’s another deadhead in Denver. DeAndre Jordan recently attended a Dead & Company show at the Las Vegas Sphere and shared a review on Instagram.

“Wow! What an insanely immersive experience,” Jordan posted with photos of the show. “The whole concert was like traveling through the universe’s existence. So much fun!”

—In a wildly unsurprising development, the racetrack was one of Nikola Jokic’s first stops after becoming the first player to lead the Olympics in points, rebounds, assists and steals. He added to his trophy case as one of his horses, Brenno Laumar, won its race.

The List

Here are the three biggest threats to the United States when they go for a sixth-straight gold medal in men’s basketball in 2028.

1. France

It’s scary to consider Victor Wembanyama will just be reaching his prime when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in four years. As long as Wemby’s around, and he gets a little help from the other young talents on the roster, France is lining up to be the United States’ primary competition for gold medals moving forward.

2. Canada

The next four years is all about Canada developing a stronger interior presence. The other top teams will have star-quality bigs. Canada has that at the guard positions but not inside. Maybe Zach Edey’s that big man. 

3. Serbia

The Los Angeles games might be Nikola Jokic’s last chance to avenge last week’s loss to the United States. He’ll be 33, while Bogdan Bogdanovic, his No. 2, will be 31. The good news for Serbia is Nikola Jovic and Nikola Topic top a growing list of Serbians in the NBA, so Jokic should have more help next time.