In an aggressive move to secure the future of the Nuggets front office, owner Josh Kroenke has promoted assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas to general manager, according to a league source.

Tim Connelly will move from general manager to a new role as Denver’s president of basketball operations. The move keeps Karnisovas, who was a finalist for the GM job in Milwaukee, in Denver for the foreseeable future and provides a clear signal that Kroenke is encouraged by the trajectory of the franchise.

Karnisovas joined the Nuggets front office alongside Connelly in 2013, and the pair has worked together to draft and build a young group of players that includes Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Juancho Hernangomez. Before becoming a finalist for the Milwaukee job this month, Karnisovas became a finalist last summer in Brooklyn’s search for a general manager.

Clearly, Karnisovas, whose strong ties to European basketball scene helped the Nuggets evaluate and draft Jokic and other promising talents over the past four years, was viewed as an executive ready for a general manager’s seat. Now he has the title in Denver with a Nuggets team intent on moving forward with a roster full of players under the age of 23.

Prior to joining the Nuggets, Karnisovas spent five years with the Houston Rockets, the last as the team’s director of scouting. He has also worked at the NBA’s league office on the business operations side.

The foray into management for Karnisovas began after a distinguished basketball career that began at Seton Hall, where he played from 1990 to 1994. He led his home country of Lithuania to Olympic bronze medals in 1992 and 1996 and had a distinguished overseas career in several countries. He was named the European player of the year by FIBA in 1996.