The deadline for teams to exercise rookie scale options for the 2027/28 season has passed without the Nuggets picking up their option on 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes. The decision ensures that Holmes will become an unrestricted free agent next summer rather than earning a guaranteed $5,547,137 salary in ’27/28.

The Nuggets were high out of the former Dayton forward in 2024, giving up three second-round picks in order to move up from No. 28 to No. 22 to draft him. However, Holmes suffered a major setback just weeks later when he suffered a torn Achilles during a Summer League game.

The injury wiped out Holmes’ entire rookie season, and when he returned in 2025/26, he didn’t play a significant role for Denver, appearing in just 25 games and averaging 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 8.4 minutes per night. The 24-year-old’s playing time hasn’t increased so far this fall, as he has logged only five total minutes in two regular season outings.

Holmes did put up solid numbers in 22 G League games last season, averaging 20.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 36.0 minutes per contest for the Grand Rapids Gold. But given his limited NBA usage, the emergence of rookie forward Trevon Brazile, and the Nuggets’ cap situation (they’re the only team currently operating over the second apron and project to continue having a high payroll going forward), it comes as no surprise that the team declined his ’27/28 option.

As long as Holmes isn’t waived this season, the Nuggets will hold his Bird rights next summer, but they’ll be prohibited from offering him a starting salary exceeding the amount of his declined option. That restriction would instead apply to his new team if he’s traded during the season, but it wouldn’t impact rival suitors.

With the decision on Holmes in, we now have resolution on all 59 players who entered the 2026/27 NBA league year with ’27/28 team options on their rookie scale contracts, as our tracker shows. We’ll have more information on those decisions in a new recap later today.