Why the Gutsy Nuggets Came Up Empty-Handed Again

Oklahoma City, Okla. — There was a lot of talk of pride in the Nuggets locker room after losing Game Seven. But it was a conflicted pride. Hard to reconcile. After showing their mettle and leaving their guts on the floor, the Nuggets came up empty-handed. Again. For the second straight season, Denver bowed out in Game Seven of the Western Conference Semifinals. A team that might be — maybe, if everything broke right — still good enough to contend, is forced to confront the reality that maybe isn’t good enough. And that the word “if” has no relation to the task at hand.

“I mean, we didn’t (win),” Nikola Jokić said at the podium. “I don’t believe in that ‘if’ stuff.”

If they had won, we’d tell tales of Aaron Gordon’s heroism forever. Regaling how he gutted out a freshly sustained Grade 2 hamstring to start in Game Seven and go to the battle for his teammates at least one last time. We’d laud Jokić for overcoming a historically great defense that threw their regular-season principles to the wayside to throw the kitchen sink at him. We’d appreciate Michael Porter Jr. playing through a Grade 2 shoulder strain and near ceaseless discomfort in his back. We’d congratulate David Adelman on earning the job and accomplishing the impossible—the Kroenkes for their bravery in a decisive moment.

But the Denver Nuggets did not win. And where they go from here will become one of the top stories in the league this offseason.

Who will lead this team into the future? Ownership faces two tall tasks before anyone addresses the roster. David Adelman made a case for the job by rallying the team around a potential fracture and helping them grow closer together in the end. Every player on the roster mentioned his empowerment and how it helped the roster mature. Only two went so far as to say they hoped Adelman would lock down the full-time gig. Michael Porter Jr and Aaron Gordon.

“I love DA,” Gordon said at the podium. “I hope he’s here next year. I hope he’s our coach. I hope he gets an entire training camp and a whole off-season and a whole training camp to figure out his philosophy. DA is great, he’s excellent for us, and I hope that he’s here next year.”

Adelman or not. The new coach will need to find synergy with a general manager to be determined. Internal conflict cost the Nuggets dearly. The civil war between top decision-makers wasted roster spots, which eventually wasted some prime years of Jokić’s career. Everyone in the organization agrees, on some level, that this team was capable of competing. But they lacked the depth to endure.

“It seems like the teams that have longer rotations, longer bench, are the ones who are winning,” Jokic said at the podium. His interim Head Coach, David Adelman, agreed. The story entering the series was playoff experience versus depth. The former kept the Nuggets in it. The latter won the war for the Thunder.

“We have to improve our depth,” Adelman said in defeat. “How do you do that? Well, I think you have to have player development this summer.”

A coach would be worried about the roster at hand. The players going home and putting the work in. A new general manager might have another idea entirely. True depth might require true risk on the trade market. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. will be remembered forever for their contributions to the only title in team history. Both have failed to live up to their reputations and contracts since. The cap sheet is lopsided, and it starts with these two.

Michael Porter Jr. has a built-in excuse if you want to use it. His body has been on the decline since his third surgery. He sustained a Grade 2 shoulder sprain in the first round. It’s admirable that he played through it. Porter’s work ethic and commitment to staying available are laudable. But on his contract, that’s a low bar to clear. Unfortunately, the word “if” — not a part of Jokić’s vocabulary — is becoming the defining word of Porter’s career. Denver must carefully consider his place on this roster and what a potential trade would net.

Jamal Murray does not have a built-in excuse. Not this time. He has repeatedly entered the season out of shape, trusting himself to play his way into it, and admonishing media and fans for daring to question his approach. Murray is a finisher, as he showed us in 2023. He lives for the bright lights. What’s left to say then, when he fails to perform under them in two straight postseasons?

We once referred to bubble Murray—a fever dream of a player capable of destroying the league alongside Jokić, given his newfound physique. Murray rejected the label. And has also never reached that level of conditioning again. He would peak higher as a player, eventually supplanting bubble Murray with champion Murray. But as time has passed, it has taken a similar place in our minds. A memory of a player who once was. Indeed, not a befitting description of the player in front of us.

As the dust settles on these last three seasons, Denver’s place in the annals of NBA glory becomes clearer. They can hold their heads high. To win one is as much as any organization has accomplished in the last seven years. We have entered the age of parity, with even the mighty Boston Celtics bowing out before returning to the conference finals. There’s no shame in what Denver’s accomplished together. But it’s time to get greedy.

Jokic is an all-time talent. The kind of player that transforms your organization forever, vaulting you into another tier of perception and appreciation around the league. In that sense, he succeeded in elevating the Nuggets. But this all still feels like they left plenty on the table. Even with parity abound, surely, Jokić is capable of returning to the biggest stage in basketball. Whomever inherits this responsibility has their work cut out for them. Re-tool the roster with few assets and a bloated salary sheet. Rebuild the roster by trading low on champions.

Perhaps this core has more to offer each other. More to offer Denver. More to accomplish in the Mile High City. But the benefit of the doubt has run dry. Soon, a new regime will put its fingerprints on the next version of Jokić’s Nuggets, and it could mean significant change. If this is how it ends for the core, that conflicted sense of pride is a tough pill to swallow. This group was mentally tough enough. The team was not good enough. And an uncertain future awaits.