Plenty of NBA experts claimed the Denver Nuggets had the makings of the next dynasty in the NBA.
They had the best player — or a top-three player at worst — in the league, and most of their championship core locked in for years to come.
However, they couldn’t get past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the playoffs and claimed to be exhausted.
Notably, that’s why NBA analyst Bill Simmons seems to be quite worried about them (via NBA K824).
Bill Simmons & Zach Lowe say the Denver Nuggets are the number one thing they are most worried about heading into the NBA season.
-Bill Simmons “I don’t understand what happened to them. They have a 20 point lead at home in game 7 and just completely fall apart and then… pic.twitter.com/gTnYJp4jdQ
— 🩸 ً (@NbaK824) September 18, 2024
Talking on his podcast, Simmons argued that the Nuggets talked about exhaustion as if they were the Golden State Warriors, who played 100+ games a year for four straight years.
Then, Zach Lowe pointed out that they were dead last in the league in three-point rate last season, so losing a great three-point shooter like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and replacing him with subpar shooters like Cristian Braun and Russell Westbrook won’t do much to help.
Per Lowe, it will all come down to whether Jamal Murray can go back to being the player he was during their championship run.
Otherwise, their title window might shut down right before their eyes.
Granted, the Timberwolves were built to match up against the Nuggets; they were literally built by the same General Manager who put together this Nuggets roster.
But with their lack of salary cap flexibility, if this group doesn’t get it together soon, they could be in a lot of trouble.
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