How do you solve a problem like Maria or fix a conundrum like the Nuggets?

According to Nikola Jokic, “If we were in Serbia, everybody would get fired.”

In Salzburg, too.

How about this recommendation in Colorado: Retain The Joker and Murray; get rid of most of the players, the head coach and all of the assistants.

The Nuggets again have become league laggards, not leaders. They were humbled and humiliated in the playoffs.

The Serbian Superstar should be safe and secure and soon signed to a four-year, $278-million contract extension. And the only other protected player will be Jamal Murray.

Jonas Valanciunas can happily go off to Greece to end his basketball career, and Zeke Nnaji can go off to a new career outside basketball.

And coach David Adelman can go off to being an assistant coach in the second row once more.

Supposedly Adelman won’t be an idle man and will be kept for a second season. Why? He and several inexperienced members of his staff had their opportunity and failed. The Nuggets should hire veteran head coach Billy Donovan, who just left the Bulls.

Adelman was outcoached by other former Nuggets assistants Chris Finch and Micah Nori; the McMouth of Minnesota, Jaden McDaniels, outplayed and outtalked the Nuggets and scored 32 points in the final game Thursday and shut down Murray the entire series; and the Timberwolves didn’t even need their three best guards to stifle, suffocate and silence the spineless Nuggets.

If the franchise had wise men, Denver would have opened the playoffs against the Rockets, who, like the Nuggets, have departed for Cabo and Cancun.

A somber Jokic is headed for Sombor.

The Nuggets are further away from the NBA championship of three years ago and seem settled and satisfied. Although the Kroenke Elder & Son Younger love basketball much more than all their other professional pursuits, the pair must depend on a real team — the Colorado Avalanche — to win another title. The Avs swept in four; the Nugs dropped four.

How do the Nuggets get fixed?

Start playing some defense as the Avalanche, the Broncos and other NBA teams do. So, hire a stingy, qualified veteran head coach instead of a defensive coordinator from the Mavericks who showed no creativity as a rookie head coach who led like clueless Jeff Bzdelik.

David had moments at the very end of last season and in the playoffs, but he couldn’t overcome the steady sequence of injuries this season to The Joker, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson and Peyton Watson. Poor deer in the headlights.

The Nuggets managed to hang around from third to seventh most of the season because of their Jokic and Murray offense, but the defense was indefensible, as McDaniels observed in the playoff series.

The most deplorable McDaniels in Denver since Josh coached the Broncos called out the Nuggets individually. The Nuggets prevailed in Game 1 at home, but couldn’t hold serve and were dominated in the arena in the next game. The Timberwolves would lose both starting guards – the Antman and the Arc Man – but the Nuggets still couldn’t win.

McDaniels embarrassed the Nuggets on the offensive end and finished the final with 32 points. He also shut down Murray as his primary defender and embarrassed The Joker. The Nuggets might as well have teared up as they were torn up.

The Nuggets must jettison as many as eight current players from the roster.

Gordon will come back, but needs fresh medical treatment after three seasons of constant injuries. Braun, who was terrible in the playoffs, and Bruce Brown, a free agent, could leave along with Nnaji finally and Valanciunas, Cameron Johnson (who didn’t replace Michael Porter Jr.), two of the three Joneses (Spencer staying) and Jalen Pickett. Space will have to be cleared to sign Peyton Watson if he chooses to come back.

David Roddy is worth a longer examination, and Strawther has to raise his game, and DaRon Holmes has to prove he has an NBA game.

Are the Kroenkes willing to spare the wealth, or will they back off depending on the arena area redevelopment?

Will the Nuggets consider hiring Donovan or Mike Budenholzer or Steve Kerr?

The Nuggets were on the brink of perhaps reaching the conference or the league finals. But in a blink, their season was blank.

Next season demands a franchise fix-it and the sound of music.