DaRon Holmes II’s debut season is likely over before it even begins.
Holmes, selected 22nd overall by the Suns and traded to the Nuggets, tore his Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the entire 2024-25 season, sources said.
The 6-foot-1 former Dayton star was injured in the Nuggets’ first game of the Las Vegas Summer League.
He reportedly left the arena on crutches.
“He’s obviously new here,” Julian Strawther, the Nuggets’ first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, told reporters after the game, “but he just brings so much positive energy.”
Holmes was defending the ball under the basket against the Clippers and he kept his feet up to defend a jump pass, but landed awkwardly on his right leg.
Holmes was expected to play a key role as one of the Nuggets’ top frontcourt reserves as they strive to return to the NBA Finals after last season’s loss to the Timberwolves in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The Nuggets ranked 25th in the NBA in scoring last season.
Holmes had 11 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes before suffering an injury.
He played all 33 games for Dayton as a junior and averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Holmes said after a practice last week that he was “excited” to play in the Las Vegas Summer League — and show his versatility — with the other Nuggets players.
Dario Saric and Vlatko Cancar could play bigger roles for the Nuggets without Holmes.