However, Holmes tore his Achilles tendon in his first NBA Summer League appearance, delaying the start of his professional career for a year. Now he’s approaching his second chance in the NBA Summer League.
On Tuesday, the Nuggets held a press conference in Denver to introduce new members of the front office, and Ben Tenzer, the franchise’s new vice president of basketball operations, told reporters Holmes would play the 4 and the 5 for the Nuggets.
“We want to not rush him back from his injury,” Tenzer said. “We’ll just allow him to take his time, but he’s playing Summer League. We’re not going to put pressure on him coming back. But we expect him to be healthy and ready to go.”
The Nuggets drafted Holmes with the 22nd overall pick on June 26, 2024. He signed a four-year rookie contract worth $15,203,658 with $6,284,400 guaranteed on July 10. Two days later, with four minutes left in his first Summer League game, Holmes suffered the injury. He had 11 points and seven rebounds before the injury.
On July 15, Holmes underwent surgery.
“Wanted to thank everyone who reached out,” Holmes wrote on X after the surgery. “It really means a lot! It was very cool to see how many people care, people I would never expect. Human nature can be a beautiful thing man. With that being said ... I’ll be back and better soon! Let’s get to work.”
Holmes remained active with the team, sitting on the bench throughout the season. A video shared by Vaughn Compton, a player development coach in Holmes’ home state, Arizona, showed Holmes working on post moves and completing a 3-point shooting drill during the All-Star break in February.
In May, a video shared on X showed Holmes playing 3-on-3 with teammates.
Last September, Holmes talked about the injury on a Nuggets podcast.
“It’s not the career-ending injury it was before,” Holmes said. “Some players come back even better because they are training in a certain way and they’re more focused on certain things. The way we look at it is you’re going to be okay. It’s just going to take time.”
Holmes will join a team that finished 50-32 and took the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. The Nuggets fired coach Michael Malone in April, named David Adelman the interim coach and then removed the interim title in May.
The NBA Summer League will take place at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nev., from July 10-20. The schedule of games has not been released.
“We’ve got the environment that’s going to be able to facilitate his growth,” said Jon Wallace, who was introduced as the Nuggets’ executive vice president of player personnel on Tuesday. “It’s the age of positionless basketball. and in the type of system that we play, he has actual skill sets with his shooting, with his rim protection, with his mobility, where we’re going to be able to highlight the way he plays and let him get more comfortable just getting those reps at this point.”
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