The past two offseasons have not exactly gone according to plan for the Denver Nuggets. Since winning the 2023 NBA championship, the Nuggets have proceeded to lose two crucial players of that title-winning roster, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown (justifiably) following the money after their successful stints in the Mile High City. But any roster with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray as its two stars will continue to flourish, and the 2024-25 Nuggets should be among the best teams in the association once more.
Jokic and Murray are still around to function as the heartbeat of the Nuggets' offense. Their two-man game remains one of the most difficult actions to stop in the NBA, and with Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. still around, they still have size, athleticism, and shooting (at least more consistently from Porter's part) in the forward positions. But among the league's true title contenders, the Nuggets may have the most glaring question mark in the rotation — their shooting guard situation.
With the departure of Caldwell-Pope, it's not quite clear who the Nuggets will start at the two. The early favorite to do so is Christian Braun; Braun is an athletic guard who has a knack for being at the right place at the right time, much like Brown before him. Braun, however, is in a different league as a shooter than Caldwell-Pope.
Braun may have shot 38.4 percent from three during the regular season last year, but that came on just 2.0 attempts per night. His percentage dropped off precipitously in the playoffs, making just 22.2 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc as the Nuggets flamed out in the second round of the playoffs.
The three-ball was already a huge question mark for the Nuggets heading into the 24-25 campaign. They were already the lowest-volume three-point shooting team in the association last season, and now, their floor-spacing situation became worse. It will be interesting to monitor if there will be a drop-off for Denver in the upcoming season, or if their zigging against a zagging NBA would help them reclaim their place atop the NBA.
Nuggets against the Northwest Division
The Northwest Division may not be the deepest in the NBA. It houses two of the worst teams in the Western Conference in the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers, which should at least give the Nuggets eight relatively easy games to take care off in the hunt for the one-seed.
However, belonging in the same division are the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves — two of the best teams in the West. The Thunder, in particular, appear to be the early favorite to take home the 2025 NBA championship. They have one of the best stars in the association in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two legitimate co-stars in Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, and a deep cast of elite role players such as Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, and Isaiah Joe.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves are still equipped to make life extremely difficult for the Nuggets. The size of the Timberwolves' frontcourt combined with their swarming perimeter defense was a clear recipe for success last year, and they brought back most of their rotation players from last season.
The Nuggets' eight games combined against the Thunder and Timberwolves will be very difficult, and could end up being the deciding factor which team wins the division, and maybe even the conference, at the end of the day.
Notable dates against difficult opponents
The Nuggets start off the season on October 25 with a highly-anticipated contest against the Thunder. Their first rematch against the Timberwolves, the team that eliminated them from the 2024 NBA playoffs, will be coming on November 2. They will then face the reigning Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks on November 11. The first month of the season is filled with difficult matchups, which might not be ideal given how much change the Nuggets roster has undergone.
On January 8, the Nuggets will be facing the reigning champion Boston Celtics for the first time on the season. They will also have a heavy back-to-back on March 10 and 11 against the Thunder, on the road no less, which will have major implications on the playoff race.
And then on April 3, the Nuggets will be facing the San Antonio Spurs for the third and final time. This game is notable since it's their late-season loss to the Spurs last season that relegated them to the two-seed, setting them up for a second-round clash against the Timberwolves which would then end their hopes at a championship repeat.
In the end, integrating a new piece into the starting lineup in Christian Braun, their lack of top-level marksmen outside of Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Julian Strawther, as well as the element of randomness brought forth by Russell Westbrook, would make the regular season a difficult slog for the Nuggets to go through. But come the second half of the season, they would have figured things out, and momentum should be by their side heading into the playoffs.