DaRon Holmes injury update: Nuggets first-round pick undergoes surgery on Achilles, expected to miss season

Holmes suffered the injury in his NBA Summer League debut on Friday

By Sam Quinn Jul 16, 2024 at 11:35 am ET• 2 min read

Denver Nuggets rookie DaRon Holmes II underwent surgery to repair a torn right Achilles, the team announced on Monday. The first-round draft pick is expected to miss the 2024-25 season after he suffered the injury during his NBA Summer League debut on Friday.

The team said more updates on Holmes' status and rehab schedule will be provided at a later date, but it can take up to a full calendar year to recover from a torn Achilles injury.

Denver selected Holmes with the No. 22 overall pick in the NBA Draft, and he was playing quite well before he got hurt. He had scored 11 points and pulled in seven rebounds in 26 minutes of action before getting hurt, but in the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, the Nuggets lost their top rookie for the season.

The blow is especially crushing, considering Denver went to great lengths to land the 22-year-old Holmes. He played three seasons at Dayton and averaged 20.4 points and 8.5 rebounds as a junior last year. The Nuggets are relatively light in assets after trading the bulk of their draft capital to build their current roster, so spending three second-round picks to move up for him wasn't cheap.