I was young in my dating life, and had met someone who was the first person who made me laugh to my toes. Who made me think about my own stances, and being a better person. Who gave me joy and hope and friendship and made me giddy just to think about. I had it bad. But due to several stupid and unforeseen circumstances, it just wasn’t meant to be. We are still close friends to this day, but she will always be the one who got away. When everything seems that good, it’s hard to not romanticize that perfect-seeming situation for a long time… maybe even the rest of your days, like I seem to be doing. Men At Work lead singer Colin Hay wrote a wonderful lyric about that kind of wistful remembrance called, “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You”…

“Don’t want you thinking I’m unhappy
What is closer to the truth
Is that if I lived ’til I was a hundred and two
I just don’t think I’ll ever get over you…”

There are a lot of ways that feeling carries through with me for this year’s Denver Nuggets. The one that got away.

What was not to love about this team? Another MVP-caliber season from Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray showing up from Day 1, and earning his first All-Star berth. Cam Johnson’s remarkable comeback from early-season woes. Aaron Gordon reminding us of how good we can be with him. Spencer Jones coming from out of nowhere. Peyton Watson ascending from a “maybe” to a “hell, yes”. Tim Hardaway’s brilliant sixth man routine. Bruce Brown reminding us of the champ he can be. So many things to romanticize. A team that most described as “the best of the Jokic era”. Smart veteran choices, impressive youngsters, the “most-stacked team of the Jokic era”. Beautiful. Dreamy. Exceptional.

And now a team that could not make it out of the first round past a hobbled and single-minded Minnesota squad.

And there are reasons. Poor timing for multiple injuries. Poor bounce-back from those injuries. Poor focus in key moments. Poor results in those same key moments, even from the very best players on the team. Poor responses to opposing coaching strategies. Poor energy in 50/50 moments. Poor luck. Poor timing. Poor pores, maybe. Poor, poor Nuggets. As with that long ago girl I knew, due to several stupid and unforeseen circumstances, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Beyond the injuries we know of, we are sure to hear that one or more of the guys was gutting it out on top of an undisclosed something, which would feel like a more reasonable excuse if the Timberwolves weren’t missing their three best guards and the NBA’s tallest forehead. We’ll hear about how defensive rotations were rough due to the absence of some keys on that side of the ball, but likely not hear nearly so much about how the team couldn’t seem to stop driving layups. There will be what feels like a million good reasons that they came up short in a year it felt like they could go long. And all of those reasons piled on top of one another will still feel a quarter-inch high. Empty. Hollow. Because you saw how good this love affair could be. Just like that girl who got away. It all felt so right. And the ones that hurt are the ones that feel almost perfect and crumble in your grasp.

There are some tough decisions to be made for this team going into next season, with what now feels like a championship window ever closer to closing. They cannot afford to bring this exact group back wholesale (or retail, ba-dump-bump), and odds are good they might not care to after what amounted to a flameout. But if you loved this version of this team, and I did, you’d better start getting used to the idea of dating someone new. Some of your favorite pieces from this year will probably not be wearing your letter jacket next year. This will likely not be the version of the Nuggets you’ll see in 2026-2027, and that’s probably for the best. But it’s hard not to romanticize what you thought it all could be when it was at it’s finest. Such a disappointing end to such a promising beginning. It’s hard to not be bitter about watching something so possibly special go to waste for reasons that seem multiple, arbitrary, and hard to define, let alone agree upon. How far will the pendulum swing? We’re about to find out.

It just wasn’t meant to be, ’25-’26 Nuggets. I’d like to say “it wasn’t you, it was me”… but… it was definitely you. We’ll always have the memories of what could have been. What a waste. The one that got away. I just don’t think I’ll ever get over you.