Coming off their championship run in the 2022-23 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets were one of the favorites to win the 2024 NBA title. Their odds were slightly worse than the Celtics and Bucks. Now, entering the second season since their title, the Nuggets are viewed as a distant fifth in this coming season’s title race. So, what needs to happen this season for the Nuggets to go from a longer shot to a title favorite again?
What The Nuggets Need To Claim The NBA Crown Again
The Young Guys Have To Step Up
It is no secret that the Nuggets are trying to thread the two-timeline needle the Warriors failed to do. This has become even clearer after the Nuggets let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency. Currently, the Nuggets have just seven players with five or more seasons played, with the rest of the roster having four or fewer years of experience. With this much unproven and inexperienced talent on the roster, it’s not hard to see why the Nuggets aren’t one of the betting favorites. If the Nuggets want to get back to the top of the mountain, they will need some of their young guys to take a leap this coming season such as Christian Braun and Peyton Watson.
Jamal Murray Needs To Be Healthy
The last time Jamal Murray was fully healthy for a Nuggets postseason run, Denver won a title. With Murray being an elite second option, putting up 26.1/5.7/7.1 averages en route to the chip. However in the last postseason, it was clear that Murray wasn’t right. Not only did he miss time shortly before the playoffs started. He suffered an injury during game four of the first round, straining his calf. Due to the injury, Murray was a shell of his usual postseason self, having the worst playoffs of his career, averaging a career-low in points, rebounds, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage.
His poor play carried over to the Olympics, where Murray was one of the worst players for a disappointing Team Canada. The Nuggets have faith that Murray will bounce back to his usual playoff self, giving him a max contract extension this offseason. If Murray can stay healthy for the entire postseason run, the Nuggets will have much better odds of winning.
Denver Needs A Consistent Third Option
For most of the Nikola Jokic era, the Nuggets haven’t had or needed a clear third option on offense. Some nights, it’s Aaron Gordon, others it’s Michael Porter Jr, and sometimes, it’s someone you don’t expect, like Reggie Jackson. However, against the Timberwolves, it was clear how badly the Nuggets needed a third consistent scorer. MPJ was a complete non-factor in the last four games of the Timberwolves series, scoring a combined 25 points in the four outings. Gordon was able to provide more consistent scoring against the Wolves but wholly disappeared in game seven, scoring just four points. The Nuggets need one of Gordon or MPJ to step up and become a consistent third option to compete with the rest of the top teams.
Last Word On Denver
As long as the Nuggets have Jokic in his prime, they will always have a shot at the title. However, the West is getting better around them and there are giants in the East, like the Celtics and Knicks. The Nuggets need these three things to happen to climb the summit once again and regain their crown as NBA champions.
