From Tuesday, Sept. 30, to Friday, Oct. 3, UC San Diego hosted the Denver Nuggets at LionTree Arena for their preseason training camp. The team headed west after media day in Denver on Monday, forsaking Colorado’s fall weather for La Jolla’s sunny 70s. At training camp, The UCSD Guardian spoke to stars like Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, who hit the court for the first time with Nuggets newcomers like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson — both of whom would see playing time in the first preseason game on Saturday.
“This team actually reminds me of 2020-21 with the weapons we have off the bench,” Murray said. “We had a lot of different guys who could come in and fill any role, and I feel like that’s how we are right now. Guys are really interchangeable, and yeah, it should be fun.”
The Nuggets held training camp at LionTree Arena in 2022 and 2023, leaving for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2024 before returning this year. Players were excited to be back in La Jolla — or back in the states, in Jokić’s case. He had just returned two days earlier from competing in the EuroBasket tournament, where Serbia lost in the Round of 16.
“It’s good weather; it’s good for your joints,” Jokić said about La Jolla. “Your body feels good about it. We’re close to the beach, you can see it, you can smell the ocean, so it’s good.”
The Nuggets spent two days running drills and getting used to training with each other before bringing in NBA officials to scrimmage on the third day.
“The level of competition has been great,” Hardaway said. “When you have vets who’ve been in the league a while, it helps young guys get into drills a lot quicker, and that makes it easier for ourselves and the coaching staff. It’s been great; it’s been fun. What helps is that everybody gets along with each other off the court. You can definitely see it when we step between those lines. It gets better and better each and every day.”
For 33-year-old Hardaway, who is entering his 13th NBA season, the biggest surprise of training camp so far was how well the third unit was playing.
“They’re playing fast; they’re playing physical; they’re playing smart, knocking down shots,” Hardaway said. “Not saying that they’re winning anything, but they are giving us a tough time. It just shows their professionalism, their grit, their tenacity out there on both ends of the floor.”
David Adelman, entering his first season as head coach of the Nuggets, hoped that the team could bring last season’s play into this year.
“The playoffs were a totally different style of game,” Adelman said. “I would say the last 25 games of the regular season was a totally different game. I really hope that they stick to what the trend was because I think it’s better basketball. When I was in the coaches meeting, [someone] mentioned that Coach K said, ‘Fans like to watch defense too.’ I think that’s important. The games that we all remember the most are physical battles in the playoffs. Let’s get our guys ready for that.”
On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Denver Nuggets concluded their time in San Diego — and began preseason play — with a 125-116 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Pechanga Arena. Though big names like Jokić, Johnson, and Murray took the court for the Nuggets, Denver was unable to keep up with the Timberwolves’ quick and coordinated play.
Despite spending a week on the court that Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones built, the Nuggets were outmatched by the Timberwolves’ high-powered offense. With hasty passes into traffic, sparse defense, and turnovers that Minnesota was able to quickly capitalize on, the Nuggets struggled to bounce back from an early 15-8 deficit.
“Limiting turnovers [is the biggest challenge],” Murray said during training camp at LionTree. “Coming into training camp, that’s always the big one. Everybody’s playing so hard on defense. And then being able to execute — we’ll get better through the season as we execute, but for now, it’s just [about] timing and turnovers.”
Though Denver displayed several moments of brilliance, with Jokić scoring 14 points in 19 minutes and Peyton Watson’s running dunk, the Timberwolves were always quick to respond, reminding the Nuggets that the Timberwolves have come out victorious in their last six matchups.
“Let’s keep working at it, and to be honest, this is a trial run for these guys,” Adelman said in a postgame conference. “You got to stay with it and understand it’s an NBA game — it’s NBA talent.”
For a week, LionTree Arena was more than the Nuggets’ temporary home; it became the backdrop for their first steps into a long season — the launchpad for, potentially, another title run.
“[The starting group] is just beginning, but what’s beginning looks dangerous and impactful, and [there’s] a lot of chemistry there,” Adelman said. “They’re talented as hell, so let’s just put them in the right spots, let them do their thing.”
Alan Zhang, Sam Propst, and Emily Gjevre also contributed to this story.
