What will be the Denver Nuggets’ best five-man lineup?
By Sean Carroll
The Denver Nuggets have almost finished their offseason, they re-signed Will Barton, JaMychal Green, Austin Rivers, and Markus Harris while picking up Jeff Green and Bones Hyland. Paul Millsap is still a free agent, but shouldn’t factor into the rotation too heavily.
Fans know what the team will look like and what to expect for the upcoming season, but as Jamal Murray sits with a torn ACL, there are a few questions around what this team’s best five-man lineup will be.
In the 2021 playoffs, the best five-man lineup (outside of garbage time) was Nikola Jokic, JaMychal Green, Aaron Gordon, Monte Morris, and Austin Rivers. Surprisingly, that tandem only played a hair over nine minutes together.
The combination that Michael Malone trusted the most, playing it the heaviest minutes in the postseason was Jokic, AG, Michael Porter Jr., Rivers, and Facundo Campazzo. It’s not the greatest lineup in this Nuggets era, but without Murray, it’s quite solid and helped the team win a series.
Heading into next season, Malone will have to find a lineup that can succeed with and without Jamal. It’s even a possibility that the non-Jamal lineups get quite a run in the playoffs as he’s likely not going to be 100 percent immediately after returning.
Let’s look at some of the five-man combinations that might be the best the Denver Nuggets can put on the court next season.