As of recent, despite some victories – it’s become quite clear that the Nuggets aren’t inner circle title contenders. They probably aren’t even outer circle title contenders. As of the end of 2024, they sit at 18-13. That’s good for sixth in the Western Conference, and they are only a couple games back from the 4th seed. It’s not all that different from their starts in previous seasons, and we’ve all seen how good those teams were.
There’s a clear difference in quality though. It always felt like the 2023 and 2024 teams could be playing better, that they were under-performing. The talent on those rosters felt like they could win a title. This roster? Nope. The spacing isn’t there. The math doesn’t add up. The depth is so incredibly lackluster. Once Christian Braun’s shooting stopped being above 45%, the starting lineup grew cramped. Nikola Jokic may be leading the league in 3 point percentage, but you ultimately want him doing most of his damage inside the arc. Jamal Murray doesn’t serve as a floor spacer since he’s the primary ball handler. Aaron Gordon is shooting well this season, but is ultimately a dunker spot player (at least ideally). That leaves Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun.
MPJ has done a good job of spacing the floor this season, shooting 41.3% from beyond the arc on 6.1 attempts per game. That’s about 1 less than his previous two seasons and that’s due to him getting run off the line more. Christian Braun has made 5 shots from beyond the arc in the calendar month of December, and just 3 in the last two weeks. Teams didn’t adjust to him shooting well, and they sure aren’t adjusting now.
The Nuggets just have too many problems as a roster at the moment. They’re a poor rebounding team at just 23rd in the league in total rebounds per game, a poor defensive unit (tied for 19th with the Pistons for defensive rating), and are dead last in three-point rate. They’ve made 363 three pointers which is the second lowest in the league, only behind the Philadelphia 76ers. There’s also a lack of shot creators outside of Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Russell Westbrook.
It’s just too much for trades to fix – especially in the middle of the season, and especially when you take into account the massive lack of assets the Nuggets have. There’s not interest in Zeke Nnaji around the league, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon can’t be traded until the offseason, the Booth Boys don’t have a ton of trade value around the league, and they have a grand total of one draft pick they can trade. After an offseason of trading six second round picks to trade up for Da’Ron Holmes and dumping Reggie Jackson’s salary, letting the starting shooting guard who won a title only two years previous walk, and letting the roster dwindle down to only six or seven playoff rotation players – the front office preached this was for flexibility. Now the Nuggets find themselves in a dire situation if they ever want to truly compete again.
The Nuggets don’t need a margin move because that simply isn’t enough at this point. They need a revitalization of the roster that just isn’t feasible due to roster mismanagement by the front office, and the players they needed to develop not developing enough. Jamal Murray is picking up back to his normal output, but it’s still not enough. They need another core piece, but they’re out of options for that – barring a steal of a deal.
The desire for flexibility made it inflexible.
