Regular season NBA basketball can be a slog. The 82-game season is very long and at times it feels more like a war of attrition than anything else. It’s truly more of a marathon than a sprint and we’ve seen this time and again.
Look no further than the Denver Nuggets. In 2023 we saw them boast a large lead in the Western Conference, take their foot off the gas, and coast into the playoffs. There was some concern that the team wouldn’t be able to flip the switch back on, and that stretch may have cost Nikola Jokic the MVP that season.
We obviously saw how the Nuggets were able to turn it on in the playoffs and cruise to a title. Then last season we saw the opposite approach. The West was a tight battle and the Nuggets put their foot on the pedal, battling until the final day of the season to earn the top seed in the West.
The Nuggets had homecourt advantage for their second-round series with the Timberwolves, but the team ran out of gas and lost in seven games. There’s no right or wrong way to approach the regular season and these situations, but this season it feels like Nuggets fans are seeing both things happen at once.
Denver has been resting players and taking their foot off the gas, but they’re also falling in the standings and risking a very tough draw. It comes down to one major issue that has only been exacerbated recently by the absence of Jokic.
The Nuggets’ bench is a disaster
The deeper that Michael Malone has to go into his bench, the uglier things become. Russel Westbrook has been the only consistent thing off of the team’s bench this season and he has been teetering close to the edge for a while now. It’s unclear how much he can be trusted in the playoffs and it has completely gone off the rails for teams in the past.
Peyton Watson has his moments, but still hasn’t earned the trust of Malone. He can have mental lapses and brings very little to the table offensively. Zeke Nnaji and DeAndre Hunter have been the only playable big men this season and they’ve each had some nice moments.
But neither of these players should be in a playoff rotation for a serious contender. And that’s about it. The Nuggets have experimented with Dario Saric, Julian Strawther (who is hurt), Jalen Pickett, Hunter Tyson, and even Spencer Jones lately. But those are not viable options in a high-stakes playoff situation.
The Nuggets just don’t have the depth. They’re way too reliant on their top players and when even one of them has a bad game or misses a game, they’re in big trouble. Is there a world where Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and Christian Braun are healthy and able to play 40+ minutes of peak basketball for two straight months? Sure.
Is it a likely outcome? Not at all. And yet, it feels more and more like that’s the Nuggets’ only real chance at raising another banner this season.