Tim Hardaway Jr.’s ride was waiting out back. As he slipped out of his work sneakers and hastily assembled a few belongings, Christian Braun urged him to hurry from across the Nuggets’ locker room. “TSA!” There was no need to worry. Hardaway has PreCheck. Airport security wasn’t about to s low him or anybody down. The Nuggets couldn’t begin their vacations quickly enough Wednesday night after a 122-116 win over the Grizzlies. “Everybody’s got flights,” coach David Adelman said. “Guys have flights tonight at midnight. There’s a lot going on here. And I understand it. It’s been a grind for everybody. It is for the whole league.” For the Nuggets, it’s been a treacherous obstacle course. They’re limping into the NBA All-Star break this year, mostly in a literal sense, though they’ve also lost four of their last six games. With Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson out of the lineup and Cam Johnson, Nikola Jokic and Christian Braun added back in recently, they were clinging to a lead until the final buzzer against Memphis, minds threatening to wander to warmer places. Cabo San Lucas. Arizona. Miami. Los Angeles, for All-Stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. “I wish we would have played better,” Braun said. “We want to build good habits going into the break.” “I’m not concerned,” a candid Adelman countered. “We had some guys that are exhausted. … We wanted to get a win going into the break. And that’s what they did. The guys toughed it out. … All these guys need a break, not just from basketball but from each other. From me.” DENVER , CO - FEBRUARY 11: Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets drives on Taylor Hendricks (22) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (18) of the Memphis Grizzlies during the first quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) A needed break The tally stands at 35-20 — one game worse than Denver’s record at the break in both of the previous two years, and four games worse than the 2023 championship team was. The Nuggets are first in offense, 24th in defense, ninth in net. Six rotation players have missed three or more weeks. Fifteen different players have started a game, even though only 13 players are on the roster. Adelman has deployed 22 different starting lineups, already tied for the most in a Nuggets season this decade, with 33% of the schedule remaining. In that last third, Denver needs to go 15-12 to extend its streak of 50-win seasons to four; 18-9 to match the championship team’s win total; 22-5 to tie the single-season franchise record. Those numbers added up to an exasperated but upbeat Adelman. All that mattered to him when the dust settled on Wednesday was the playoff seed. The Nuggets held their ground in third place in the West, a game ahead of Houston and 3.5 back of San Antonio. They haven’t slipped below third for two consecutive days since Dec. 4. “I would say we’re very tired,” Bruce Brown said. “I mean, guys are going down. Guys are playing more minutes. Getting banged up. I rolled my ankle today. Just little nicks and bruises. … This break is coming at the right time.” Brown’s long weekend will involve “probably no basketball,” a sentiment shared by everyone who wasn’t in a rush to leave the locker room Wednesday. Cam Johnson looks forward to spending time with his dog, a mini Aussiedoodle named Halo. Zeke Nnaji will visit family in Minnesota. Braun will at least keep an eye on KU basketball scores while he’s reaping the rewards of his $125 million payday in Cabo, which is “kind of a little routine for me.” He won’t be keeping as much of an eye on the NBA events taking place in Los Angeles. Most of the Nuggets said they’ll be content to skip over that, maybe except to support Murray in the 3-point contest. “I’m just excited that ‘Mal and Jok will be there. I’m not too excited for the All-Star Game,” Braun said. “Quite frankly, don’t know how much of it I’ll tune in to.” Head coach David Adelman of the Denver Nuggets reacts after a foul call on Jonas Valanciunas (17) after he tangled with Jaylen Wells (0) during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) Nuggets coaching staff off the hook For Jokic, this marks eight consecutive years of not being able to plan a quick trip to Serbia. “I always say it’s a pleasure to share the court with all those players,” he insisted Wednesday, but he also knew there was no use hiding his jaded feelings about the weekend as a whole. When asked what he hopes Murray gets out of the experience as a first-timer, the three-time MVP didn’t have much of an answer to offer. “It’s definitely an experience,” Jokic said, “but I’m not sure that he’s gonna enjoy it.” “I’m just happy for (Murray) to go see the experience,” Adelman said. “I think Nikola is not as excited.” Adelman and his staff were half a game away from joining their star players. The coaches at All-Star weekend are usually determined by the first-place teams in each conference after Feb. 1, but the NBA doesn’t like to make the same coach do it twice in a row. That disqualified Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault this year and passed the baton down to the second-place team. It was Denver the morning of Feb. 1, but the Nuggets’ loss combined with the Spurs’ win that night caused a flip in the standings. Adelman and his assistants were snubbed, or off the hook, depending on how one looks at it. Related Articles Nuggets’ negotiation with Spencer Jones being ‘slow-played’ due to concussion Nuggets’ Cam Johnson returns at fortuitous time for Denver roster ravaged by injuries Which NBA players could Nuggets consider for last roster spot? Here are 10 options. Keeler: Nuggets’ home-court advantage with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray feels like ancient history PHOTOS: Denver Nuggets host annual Special Olympics basketball clinic “We were all kind of shocked that all of a sudden, we had a chance to coach it, because we were a couple of games back with about a week and a half to go,” the first-year head coach said. “And there were definitely people making (other) plans. … That staff has been absolutely incredible to keep these guys going. Just their messaging, and the confidence that each player had when they played has a lot to do with what goes on behind closed doors. Those guys do an unbelievable job. I would have been most excited to go coach it for them, because what they’ve done. They deserve that.” They’ll take their own vacations instead, as originally scheduled, and Jokic and Murray will have to keep each other company on the fake business trip to Intuit Dome. After Jokic was informed that Murray intends to play hard in the game on Sunday, the perennially unserious All-Star made his own vow of competitiveness. “Always,” Jokic said in his driest deadpan of the year. “I always play hard.” ...read more read less