Winning a championship in the NBA is hard, but defending that title and going back-to-back is much harder, although it is far from impossible. In this article, we will look at how teams have followed up their championship performance in the following season. The Denver Nuggets won the NBA Finals for the first time in their franchise's history last season. Do the Nuggets have a chance to repeat as champions this year?
Defending champion results the year after winning
Missed the playoffs (2 teams)
1969-70 Boston Celtics, 1998-99 Chicago Bulls
Missing the playoffs altogether after winning a championship is a rarity, and it makes sense, as usually, superstars don't want to leave their team after collecting a ring. Both the Celtics and Bulls dynasties ended when their mega star player retired. Bill Russell and Michael Jordan gave their franchises everything that they had, and they couldn't dominate the league forever.
Lost in the first round (8 teams)
1956-57 Philadelphia Warriors, 1980-81 Los Angeles Lakers, 1983-84 Philadelphia 76ers, 1999-2000 San Antonio Spurs, 2006-07 Miami Heat, 2011-12 Dallas Mavericks, 2014-15 San Antonio Spurs, 2020-21 Los Angeles Lakers
Championship-winning teams are usually good enough to get past the first round the succeeding year after they brought home the Larry O'Brien Trophy as well, as first-round losses are the second least common thing to happen to defending champions. Most of the teams in this category were either upset in the first round or were dealing with injuries.
Lost in the Semifinals (13 teams)
1950-51 Minneapolis Lakers, 1966-67 Boston Celtics, 1976-77 Boston Celtics, 1977-78 Portland Trailblazers, 1993-94 Chicago Bulls, 1995-96 Houston Rockets, 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs, 2005-06 San Antonio Spurs, 2008-09 Boston Celtics, 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers, 2019-20 Toronto Raptors, 2021-22 Milwaukee Bucks, 2022-23 Golden State Warriors
Losing in the semifinals after a championship run isn't the most common ending, but it has been of recently. Three of the last four champions lost in the semifinals the next season. Hopefully not for the Nuggets.
Lost in the Conference Finals (16 teams)
1951-52 Rochester Royals, 1954-55 Minneapolis Lakers, 1955-56 Syracuse Nationals, 1958-59 St. Louis Hawks, 1967-68 Philadelphia 76ers, 1970-71 New York Knicks, 1971-72 Milwaukee Bucks, 1973-74 New York Knicks, 1974-75 Boston Celtics, 1975-76 Golden State Warriors, 1979-80 Seattle Supersonics, 1981-82 Boston Celtics, 1985-86 Los Angeles Lakers, 1990-91 Detroit Pistons, 2002-03 Los Angeles Lakers, 2007-08 San Antonio Spurs
If your team wins the championship, it is a pretty good bet to assume they will lose in the Conference Finals the next season. This was especially common in the '70s when no one or two teams dominated the decade like many other eras. Good news for the Nuggets.
Lost in the Finals (12 teams)
1957-58 Boston Celtics, 1972-73 Los Angeles Lakers, 1978-79 Washington Bullets, 1982-83 Los Angeles Lakers, 1984-85 Boston Celtics, 1986-87 Boston Celtics, 1988-89 Los Angeles Lakers, 2004-05 Detroit Pistons, 2013-14 Miami Heat, 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, 2017-17 Cleveland Cavaliers, 2018-19 Golden State Warriors
Twelve teams have fallen just short of going back-to-back. This was most common in the '80s when the Lakers and Celtics were battling each other for supremacy over the course of the entire decade.
Went back-to-back (12 teams)
1952-53 Minneapolis Lakers, 1959-60 Boston Celtics, 1968-69 Boston Celtics, 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers, 1989-90 Detroit Pistons, 1991-92 Chicago Bulls, 1994-95 Houston Rockets, 1996-97 Chicago Bulls, 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers, 2009-2010 Los Angeles Lakers, 2012-13 Miami Heat, 2017-2018 Golden State Warriors
Being a back-to-back champion is not an easy task, but it has happened more times than people may realize. A handful of these teams even ended up winning three in a row.
Three-peats or more (10 teams)
1954-54 Minneapolis Lakers (3x), 1960-61 Boston Celtics (3x), 1961-62 Boston Celtics (4x), 1962-63 Boston Celtics (5x), 1963-64 Boston Celtics (6x), 1964-65 Boston Celtics (7x), 1965-66 Boston Celtics (8x), 1992-93 Chicago Bulls (3x), 1997-98 Chicago Bulls (3x), 2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers (3x)
Finishing a three-peat establishes you as a true dynasty. The Minneapolis Lakers were the game's first dynasty, and no one could stop the Celtics in the '60s, as they won eight straight championships. Michael Jordan's Bulls and Shaquille O'Neal/Kobe Bryant's Lakers dominated their eras.
Denver Nuggets 2023-24 outlook: Can Nuggets repeat?
There isn't any history on the Denver Nuggets to suggest what they may do in 2023-24, considering their championship victory last season was the first in franchise history. Recent champions have been losing earlier than expected. Three of the last four champions lost in the semifinals the next season, and the fourth team lost in the first round. The Nuggets have aspirations of becoming a dynasty, so they will hope for better results than that.
There are a few reasons for teams struggling to find playoff success the year after winning as of recently. Firstly, we are in an era where teams are willing to mortgage the future for a shot at a championship. Teams will trade away draft picks and young players for a superstar who can help them win now, and that makes it harder to win in the future. This was best exemplified by the Toronto Raptors in 2018-19. The team got a one-year rental out of Kawhi Leonard – who helped them win the NBA Finals – before he left town, and the team fell back down to Earth.
Teams of recent also had to deal with the aftermath of COVID-19. NBA players are best when they get in a rhythm, and the coronavirus completely messed that up. The end of the 2019-20 season was played in the Orlando bubble, and the following seasons were both forced to have shorter offseasons, as well as they were drastically changed by COVID-19 protocols and rule changes.
Luckily for the Nuggets, the team won't be dealing with any of those problems, meaning their chances of repeating might be a little bit higher. The Nuggets have been built through continuity. Their core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. have grown and developed together. They are also still young, with those three being 28, 26, and 25, respectively. The Nuggets are still in their prime, and they are likely only going to get better.
On top of that, the Nuggets didn't lose too many players from their championship roster. Bruce Brown's departure will hurt the bench, but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon are back, meaning the starting five – which is among the best in the NBA – will be returning. The team will need players like Christian Braun, Zeke Nnaji, and Reggie Jackson to step up their games from last year, but Denver is set up well to not only have a chance at repeating as champions but to genuinely establish themselves as a dynasty. What do you think? Can the Nuggets repeat, or will they fall to a similar fate as recent defending champions? Their season starts on Tuesday, Oct. 24 against the Los Angeles Lakers. It is the first game of NBA Opening Night.
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