Denver Post beat writer Bennett Durando opens up the Nuggets Mailbag periodically during the season (and now, the offseason). You can submit a Nuggets- or NBA- related question here.
What team is most likely to make it seven different champions in seven years?
— Michael, Denver
Love this question. So this is only the second time the NBA has crowned six different champions in as many years. Here is the original six-year revolving door:
1975: Golden State Warriors
1976: Boston Celtics
1977: Portland Trail Blazers
1978: Washington Bullets
1979: Seattle SuperSonics
1980: Los Angeles Lakers
And here is our current state of affairs:
2019: Toronto Raptors
2020: Los Angeles Lakers
2021: Milwaukee Bucks
2022: Golden State Warriors
2023: Denver Nuggets
2024: Boston Celtics
Despite both of these six-year runs, the league has never seen seven consecutive different champions. That means the 2024-25 season has a chance to make some history. Readers of this mailbag will understandably be rooting against that. But the possibility still makes for an interesting exercise that speaks to the wide array of teams threatening Denver.
If I polled NBA fans, I’m guessing the most popular answers would be the Mavericks, Thunder and Timberwolves, due to the trajectories of their respective young superstars. Luka Doncic just reached the NBA Finals at 25. Anthony Edwards will be 23 next season in Minnesota after leading a WCF run. And Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be 26 on the heels of an MVP runner-up season. Conventional wisdom says they each have nowhere to go but up. Fervent believers in Victor Wembanyama’s development might even go out on a limb and argue for a rapid Spurs ascent. (The fun wrinkle about this question is its timing: Picking your fighter requires forecasting an entire offseason.)
If I’m choosing from Western Conference candidates — yes, I’m intentionally overlooking the Suns and Clippers — then it’s Oklahoma City. On top of SGA’s individual progress, the Thunder earned the No. 1 seed without even playing the multiple aces in Sam Presti’s hand. He still yields a surplus of draft assets ready to trade whenever the time is right, be it this summer or the 2025 trade deadline. With Gilgeous-Alexander still one offseason away from supermax eligibility and Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams on rookie contracts, there is ample cap space to use. Oh, and this is the only 2024 playoff team with a lottery pick (No. 12) in the upcoming draft. OKC improved by 16 wins in 2022-23 and by another 17 wins in 2023-24. Another imminent leap seems inevitable, whereas I think Edwards might be a couple of years away from reaching his championship-caliber prime. He’ll get there, but will his schedule coincide with his teammates’ window?
Anywho, I’m not choosing exclusively from the West. What I can’t get out of my head is the long road Boston and Denver took to their respective titles. The Celtics waited through six years of playoff disappointment with Brown and Jayson Tatum before finally breaking through, aided by the correct adjustments to the roster’s top-six around that duo. The Nuggets needed six years with Jokic and Jamal Murray (including four playoff exits) before they also assembled the perfect top-six. In this era, I’m inclined to gravitate toward a team built around a star duo still hoping for the stars to align, rather than a core that may or may not be ahead of schedule.
And so I present to you, the Philadelphia 76ers. Controversial? Perhaps. Popular with Nuggets fans? Most certainly not. But if it’s ever going to happen for Joel Embiid, it has to be next season. Tyrese Maxey is entering his prime as a dynamic second option, and Embiid could be nearing the end of his as a consistent MVP contender. He turned 30 in March. He was never a pillar of playoff durability in his 20s, so it’s hard to escape the feeling that his elite years are more numbered than Jokic’s. But the Sixers have a unique opportunity to retool their rotation around Embiid and Maxey this summer. Lots of cap space and roster space. If they do this right, their 2024-25 starting lineup could be the best of Embiid’s career. It’s not too difficult to envision Philly finding its Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
And in a weaker Eastern Conference, the 76ers’ playoff gauntlet should be less challenging than the path Dallas, OKC or Minnesota will face. All the pieces are there. In the end, it’ll come down to whether Embiid can finally learn from his playoff flame-outs (seven), like the Celtics and Nuggets did.
Hey Bennett, given the animosity Carmelo Anthony has shown to the Nuggets since his retirement, do you see him ever getting his flowers from the team? He’s not getting his jersey number retired since he’s no longer the best No. 15 anymore.
— Frank, Windsor
Never say never. Anthony just turned 40. Time heals all — er, most — wounds. There’s no telling who’ll be in charge of the Nuggets 30 years from now, and no telling how Anthony will feel about all the petty re-litigation of 2011 that has taken place online between himself and George Karl. The romantic sports fan in me likes to believe fanbases eventually look back on embattled former star players with nostalgia, not resentment. I’m a Cardinals fan. Many of my kind weren’t pleased when Albert Pujols left in free agency. That worked out.
It felt like a game of rock-paper-scissors with the Mavericks, Timberwolves and Nuggets in the West. What do you think Denver has to do in the offseason to get back to the Finals?
— Mike, Denver
I’ll link to a full offseason primer here and a story about Michael Malone’s regular-season philosophy here, because there’s too much to get into in one mailbag answer. But I’ll identify what I believe to be two most important elements within Denver’s control, not requiring salary cap gymnastics.
First is the physical health and preparedness of Murray. It’s been proven that when he and Jokic are simultaneously at their best, the Nuggets are a championship team. When Murray is absent or an incomplete version of himself, they aren’t. Second is the momentum of Christian Braun and Peyton Watson. If they keep developing at their current pace, the Nuggets will have a formidable top-six at minimum, regardless of whether Kentavious Caldwell-Pope returns.
Bennett, wanna play a game? … Of what if? So what if the Nuggets never traded away Donovan Mitchell in 2017? We now have a core of Mitchell, Murray and Jokic. Would we be looking at a dynasty or not enough balls on the court?
— Ronald Kim, Centennial
Thanks for the questions, Ronald. The answer to your first one is no. I don’t care to play that game. Because if the Nuggets were selecting a player for themselves, rather than a player Utah hand-picked, there’s no telling who they would have drafted. It might not have been Mitchell. They already drafted Murray the previous year. There are just too many layers to that hypothetical for me to entertain it.
And anyway, if we’re going to “what-if” Donovan Mitchell to Denver, then might as well “what-if” Nikola Jokic to Minnesota or Philadelphia or any of the 29 teams that could’ve picked him before the Nuggets. While we’re at it, we should probably “what-if” Michael Porter Jr.’s college back injury out of existence and find out how many teams would’ve drafted him before No. 14.
The Nuggets have displayed an extraordinary combination of savviness and luck in the draft over the last decade. I don’t see much point in revisionist history that adds to their good fortune when so many different things could’ve hypothetically not broken their way that did.
Now, visualizing Mitchell on the current roster is different; I’m happy to discard all common sense and salary cap logic, as long as we’re honest about it. You raise a fair point about not enough basketballs to go around. But I actually think Mitchell and Murray would work well together as a backcourt. Murray doesn’t need to be a point guard in order to thrive, and there’s enough ball movement in a Jokic offense that both would be sufficiently involved, regardless of the initiator. So, I’m leaning dynasty.
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Bennett, hello from Texas. I am a Colorado native, Bronco season ticket holder and recent transplant. Only since retirement last year have I started to pay attention to the NBA, more specifically the Nuggets. …
When I watch Murray, KCP, MPJ, Aaron Gordon, ANT Man, KAT, LeBron, Luka or Kyrie — they all show huge emotion. But with Nikola Jokic I never see the passion, excitement or emotion. Is it possible that he really doesn’t care as much? Unfortunately, it appears that Jokic day-dreamed his way through the series with the Timberwolves and let his team down.
— Michael Hert, Flint, TX
It’s a valid observation, but as I’ve reported, Jokic’s on-court demeanor (often stoic, but sometimes impassioned as well) is not indicative of his entire attitude toward basketball. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another athlete in any sport capable of trying so hard while appearing as though they’re not.
Jokic certainly has a different perspective on basketball based on his background, but teammates consistently attest to his relentless work ethic. He played arguably the best game of his career in Game 5 against Minnesota. What happened in Game 7 was a fuel shortage for not just him, but Denver’s entire starting lineup. The Nuggets didn’t feel like they could afford to rest him.
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