Nuggets usher in a new era with Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace leading front office reset

The Denver Nuggets are ushering in a new era after naming Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace as key front office operatives for the franchise. The Nuggets will appoint Tenzer as their executive vice president of basketball operations and Wallace as executive vice president for player personnel, Shams Charania announced Sunday.

“After the late-season firings of coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth, the Nuggets hired David Adelman – and now will name Ben Tenzer and Wallace as the heads of their newly restructured basketball leadership group,” Charania wrote.

The Nuggets shocked the NBA world after firing coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth, a few days ahead of the 2025 NBA playoffs. Under Booth and Malone’s leadership, the Nuggets won the NBA Finals in 2023. This made the franchise’s decision to let them go even more shocking.

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David Adelman stepped in as the interim coach, leading Nikola Jokic & Co. to the Western Conference semifinals. The Nuggets defeated the LA Clippers in the first round and took the Thunder to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. Their season ended after OKC claimed Game 7 of the Western semis 125-93.

Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace will have their hands full in preparation for the 2025-26 season

Owing to the lucrative contracts of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Nuggets are expected to have the fifth-highest payroll in the NBA for the 2025-26 season. This leaves them without much cap space to maneuver freely during the offseason.

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The departures of Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have already weakened Denver's bench. Russell Westbrook has also opted out of his player option for next season, meaning the team will need to sign a replacement for him as well. To make matters worse, Dario Saric opted into his player option after making just 16 appearances for the team in 2024-25.

If Nikola Jokic & Co. hope to stay competitive, they’ll have to make many moves this offseason.

So, Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace will have their hands full as they look to deepen the roster for another run at the title.

About the author

Sameer is an esports and gaming journalist at Sportskeeda who covers a diverse range of topics. He is currently pursuing a BSc degree from BITS, but his love for video games pushed him to pursue a gaming journalism career. He relies on diligent research and fact-checking to deliver top-notch content. He has previously worked in the hospitality sector with the Oberoi Group.

Sameer’s gaming journey began with Rockstar Games’ GTA franchise, specifically
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. He strongly prefers multiplayer games, with FPS being his favorite genre, and has devoted 6K+ hours to CS:GO! However, he also dabbles in open-world, story-based games from time to time. Solo RPGs like Horizon Forbidden West hold a soft spot in his heart, and he would readily drop in it given a Jumanji-type scenario.

Sameer makes sure to follow Counter-Strike and Valorant esports tournaments, as he believes that watching a game being played at the highest level can be highly educational. He derives inspiration from Tarik's meteoric rise to become one of the biggest FPS streamers in the world following the release of Valorant.

Outside of work, you can find Sameer playing football or cheering for FC Barcelona. He also likes to read and write poetry.

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Edited by Krutik Jain