DaRon Holmes II heard from his dad after a game last season when he took a hit from Joel Embiid, of the Philadelphia 76ers, and flew into the basket stanchion.
The message from his dad was simple: the former Dayton Flyers forward Holmes needed to get bigger and stronger.
"That one was crazy," Holmes said, "but to be honest with you, it needed to happen."
Holmes was an NBA rookie coming off an Achilles tendon injury that caused him to miss what would have been his first season with the Denver Nuggets. Getting back on the court and staying there was the goal in the 2025-26 season.
This past offseason, Holmes focused on improving his strength.
"The position I play, you can't be weak," Holmes told reporters on Media Day in Denver on Monday, Sept. 23, one day before training camp began. "So that's one really big point of emphasis I had this summer. Getting stronger is very important. But also knowing how to use your strength and running, being in shape, those things are the main things that come before everything. I could be in the gym, working on my handle, doing this and that. That's great, but the most important thing is being physically more imposing and dominant than the other team."
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Dayton listed Holmes at 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds when he was a freshman in 2021-22. The Nuggets list Holmes, a first-round pick in 2024, at 225 now.
Holmes appeared in 25 games with the Nuggets last season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 8.4 minutes per game. He also appeared in 13 NBA G League games with the Grand Rapids Gold, averaging 20.9 points and 7.8 rebounds.
"The G League is huge," Holmes said. "It's a great opportunity, you know. Some athletes look at the G League as a bad thing. I don't. I think it's a development thing, and it's perfect for athletes like myself coming back from injury. I got to learn a lot. I'm way more familiar with the plays now, so that opportunity was great, and I made some great friends. A lot of great winning, and a lot of great players down there, too. So I'm very grateful and blessed I was able to go down there and play."
The Nuggets finished 54-28 last season. They have won 50 or more games four seasons in a row.
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Nuggets coach David Adelman told reporters Holmes has to play the four as well as the five to earn playing time this year.
"I started him last year because I liked him against traditional fives during that winter month, when a lot of guys were out," Adelman said. "That allowed him to pick-and-pop, which is his special gift. The guy can really shoot it. But I think in our league, he's going to have to be interchangeable, and to play the four, he's going to have to learn how to guard smaller guys. He's going to have to be more of an on-the-ball guy, a cutter. He doesn't have to be Christian Braun, but he can do little things better at that position, and that allows me to have more flexibility to put him on the floor in more situations."
Holmes plays for a team that features one of the NBA's best players, 12th-year center Nikola Jokic, as well as 13-year veteran forward Aaron Gordon. Ninth-year forward Marvin Bagley III and eighth-year forward Cameron Johnson are other veterans ahead of Holmes on the depth chart.
"Our goal is to just win as a team," Holmes said. "For me personally, they just said, 'Be yourself. Play hard. Know the plays.' In any position they put me in, if I'm at the four, if I'm at the five, it doesn't matter. I'm going to go out there, give my 100%, knowing the plays, having my teammates' trust, playing hard on defense and offense and getting what is given to me. If Jokic has the ball, being able to play off of him, being in the right spots, knowing tendencies, knowing how my teammates react, leadership, energy, all that stuff goes into it. I really feel like I've done a great job this summer of putting myself in a position where I can go out there and help my teammates."
