Denver Nuggets

ESPN insider feels that ‘something big is gonna change’ if Denver loses in 2nd round again

Published by
Jesse Cinquini

After the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship in franchise history in 2023, the team came up well short of another title the following year. Denver lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in seven games in the second round, and to add insult to injury for the Nuggets, three of their four losses in the series came at home.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe said that if the Nuggets suffer the same fate in the 2025 NBA Playoffs and are once again a second-round exit, there could be major changes in Denver.

“If they lose in a similar round like a second round again this year, this feels like the year where if that happens, the next season something big is gonna change,” Lowe said of the Nuggets. “I don’t know what it is. I just know this core is enormously expensive. Aaron Gordon is gonna soon be up for a big extension that will give him a bigger salary number. The bench is young and untested. There are more questions than there really should be about a team that was the no-brainer favorite to win the West last season and fell two rounds short of where they wanted to get. If they don’t get where they need to get this season, I think something there is gonna change.”

The Nuggets may be worse on paper than they were a season ago. For one, Denver was unable to retain guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency. Once his second season as a Nugget came to an end, Caldwell-Pope agreed to a three-year, $66 million deal with the Orlando Magic.

Caldwell-Pope was one of the few consistent 3-point threats last season on a Nuggets team that didn’t shoot the ball from deep at a high level collectively. In the 2023-24 regular season, he shot 40.6 percent from deep, which was the second-best 3-point percentage of any Nugget.

The Nuggets — as a team — knocked down 11.7 3s made per game. Only the Magic, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors buried fewer shots from deep per contest.

In addition to losing Caldwell-Pope to the Magic, another one of Denver’s top guards from last season decided to switch teams. After Reggie Jackson averaged 10.2 points and 3.8 assists per game in a bench role with the Nuggets, he signed with one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference in the Philadelphia 76ers.

Perhaps one of the team’s newer guards — Russell Westbrook — will help to soften the blow of losing Caldwell-Pope and Jackson. Westbrook might no longer be a triple-double machine like he was at his peak, but he still averaged 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game playing for the Los Angeles Clippers a season ago.

In light of Lowe’s words, if fans of the Nuggets want to see the team’s current core play together for the foreseeable future, they should hope that Denver makes a deep playoff run next year.

Jesse Cinquini

Jesse is an aspiring sports journalist that has previously worked as a staff writer at SB Nation’s CelticsBlog and The Knicks Wall.

Published by
Jesse Cinquini

Recent Posts

Ja Morant opens up about Grizzlies firing Taylor Jenkins: ‘It’s tough for me’

Guard Ja Morant suited up for the first time since the Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor…

15 hours ago

Tyrese Haliburton on ‘easy decision’ to name SGA MVP: ‘If you took a player poll, I’m sure he would win’

Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a compelling case to win this season's MVP…

17 hours ago

Report: ‘Early expectation’ is that Clint Capela will sign elsewhere this summer

Big man Clint Capela is in his fifth season playing for the Atlanta Hawks, and…

3 days ago

Stephen A. says LeBron is in his feelings: ‘Could it be because I don’t believe you’re the G.O.A.T.?’

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith claimed on Wednesday that if his confrontation with Los Angeles Lakers…

4 days ago

LeBron James reflects on 2007 Cavs roster that he took to NBA Finals: ‘How is that possible?’

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recently reflected on the 2006-07 Cleveland Cavaliers and their…

5 days ago

Shannon Sharpe implies Jamal Murray defers to Nikola Jokic like Kobe deferred to Shaq: ‘Murray is more than capable’

An ankle injury has kept Denver Nuggets star big man Nikola Jokic sidelined for more…

6 days ago