The Denver Nuggets might have reached their lone NBA Finals with their current core.
The NBA rebuilding cycle is brutal. For small market franchises that don’t attract top-tier superstars, they have to essentially strip the club’s roster, earn a high draft pick, draft a franchise talent then develop that player into a superstar to lead the team.
From there, the NBA team has to build a contending squad around that superstar through additional drafting, trades and free agency. The Denver Nuggets achieved that feat, winning the 2022-23 NBA Championship over the Miami Heat.
Led by Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. — all of which the team drafted — the club exhausted all options as it pertains to salary cap usage and trades, leaving seldom room for improvement.
In an attempt to re-tool, the Nuggets brought in a younger, cheaper roster around the core of Jokic, Murray and Porter. In their opening contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they look to have regressed in a big way.
The NBA crew on ESPN made their preseason championship predictions, where they made their claim on which two clubs would face off in the finals. Stephen A. Smith picked the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets to face off, while the other panelists predicted the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Nuggets.
“All three of them picked Boston vs. OKC in their prediction. I changed my mind in one game,” Smith said. “Denver looked old. Now, they’re not old but against Oklahoma City, they looked old and I’m worried about them.”
The Thunder defeated the Nuggets 102-87 in Ball Arena in Denver. The Nuggets simply didn’t look like the team they have in years past, especially since capturing their title in 2023.
The Nuggets certainly don’t project the be the squad they have been in years past, but it’s a one-game sample size. Looking to have no identity with Jokic on the bench has been a theme before this year, and is something they will have to figure out in time.
Not to mention, the Thunder is a legitimate title contender, too, so there’s a bit of leeway as it pertains to a brutal opening night loss.
In short, Denver shouldn’t worry yet, but they should be very mindful of their woes at the trade deadline as they could use quite a bit of help as it pertains to their bench. They’ve got one of the best basketball players on the planet and two very, very solid co-stars alongside him, which will be enough to get them near the point of contention.
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