How long is the Denver Nuggets title window going to be open for?

The Denver Nuggets are back in action, as the defending champs have started the season a strong 3-0. They took down the Los Angeles Lakers at home on opening night, beat the Memphis Grizzlies away, and then beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, also being away.

Behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the team has been successful for a few years now, especially recently. The Nuggets are now considered in the upper echelon of title contenders and are viewed as the best team in the Western Conference by most NBA fans.

The Denver Nuggets are a young team, at least regarding NBA champions. All members in their starting five are under 30 years old except Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who will turn 31 in February. Their bench is also super youthful, as every member of their regular rotation is on a rookie contract outside of Reggie Jackson.

One thing a lot of NBA teams have to be aware of is their championship window. What does that even mean? Well, it is practically what it sounds like. The window, or time frame, where a team has the best chance to win a championship.

Let’s make an example. Let’s say this team has an older roster that is not under contract for a while. And the team that is going up against them is a young squad with all their players on multi-year contracts. The second team has a wider championship window, as they have more time that they can compete for a title, whereas the first team has less time considering the age of their players.

The Denver Nuggets do have a young roster, as previously mentioned. The only main player on an expiring contract this offseason is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and he has a player option that he will most likely decline. He’ll most likely want to re-sign with the Nuggets this offseason, considering their title aspirations.

Looking around the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks have a smaller title window than they would like. Brook Lopez is 35 years old, Damian Lillard is 33, and Khris Middleton is 32. Their team is aging and does not have a lot of trade chips that they can trade in anymore without hurting their team. Denver, however, still has a good amount of trade assets and does not have an aging roster.

With all of that being said, how big is the Denver Nuggets’ title window? This is not a set number and can be different for multiple people. Some see the Nuggets as title contenders now and for multiple more seasons, while some believe they won’t be close to winning a title this year.

Ultimately, the Denver Nuggets’ title window should be open for this season as well as two to four more seasons. This is just assuming the Nuggets keep the same core intact and don’t trade any of the players or let them go. The NBA moves fast and never stops, so teams have to keep looking at upgrading whenever possible.

All in all, the Nuggets should still be competitive for more seasons than just this one. There is no reason to believe their title window should be closing anytime soon, and it definitely won’t as long as Nikola Jokic is still playing at an MVP-caliber rate.

That title window can stay open a lot longer if Denver wins again this year, but we’ve got a long time until we crown this season’s champions.