Donovan Mitchell gives Nuggets extra motivation with disrespectful comments

After the way this 2023 NBA playoffs ended for the Denver Nuggets, this team shouldn’t need any extra motivation to come back strong next season. They were humiliated on their own floor, blowing a 20-point second-half lead in game seven against the Timberwolves.

It was a disappointing and embarrassing conclusion to a season that was supposed to result in another championship run. The offseason hasn’t gone much better as the Nuggets saw Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave in free agency, first-round draft pick DaRon Holmes II tear his achilles, and Jamal Murray struggle mightily in the Olympics.

But in case the team needed any extra motivation to come back strong, they were gifted some bulletin board material recently on an episode of the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast.

Donovan Mitchell pegs Thunder and Timberwolves as favorites in West

The Nuggets and Donovan Mitchell have a fair amount of history. He was originally drafted with a Nuggets pick that was dealt to the Jazz. Mitchell and Utah battled the Nuggets in an epic seven-game playoff series in the bubble as well.

Mitchell has since been traded to the Cavaliers and become a superstar in Cleveland. Any animosity or rivalry with the Nuggets has mostly faded with time and distance, but perhaps things will kick back up as, intended or not, he took a bit of a subtle shot at the Nuggets. 

Appearing on the podcast, Mitchell was asked about his favorites in the Western Conference and stated, “I would say it’s probably gon’ be Minnesota or OKC. I think Minnesota, they some dogs. I think they figured it out too about themselves. They made some trades and made some different acquisitions and all that, but they figured it out. OKC adding Alex Caruso, I don’t think people really understand what that does for that lineup. You’ve already got [Cason] Wallace over there, you’ve got Lu Dort, Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]’s not a bad defender himself. You add Alex Caruso to that lineup.” 

Nuggets can use Mitchell's comments as bulletin board material

While Mithcell didn’t mention the Nuggets directly, his omission is glaring. The last two Western Conference are the Nuggets and Mavericks and Mitchell mentioned neither one. The Thunder were the number-one seed last season and had a great offseason. The Wolves had a breakthrough campaign and knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs.

So both picks are reasonable for Mitchell to make. But it’s definitely noteworthy that he didn’t mention the Nuggets, his old nemeses, and the team with the reigning MVP, Nikola Jokic. If nothing else, it’s something the Nuggets can rally around and use the doubt to fuel them.