Now that the Nuggets are done with Summer League, and have (all but) filled their final roster spot with Russell Westbrook, it feels like the bulk of the offseason is over. But training camp and preseason are still months away, so what do Nuggets fans do now?
Well luckily, we have the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics coming up in just over a week, and with that comes a heavy dose of high-level basketball. Fans in America have surely heard all about Team USA; the legendary hall-of-famers, injury questions for Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, Jaylen Brown getting snubbed, and more.
But that team doesn’t feature a single player from the Denver Nuggets, so American Nuggets fans may be having a harder time getting invested. It can be a tricky balance to shift from rooting so passionately against players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Anthony Edwards in the Western Conference playoffs, to suddenly cheering on those players as they represent the United States.
Luckily, fans do have other options if they’d like to follow and support the Nuggets players regardless of their uniforms. The two best players on the Nuggets will both represent their countries at the Olympics and will feature prominently for their home teams.
Nikola Jokic - Team Serbia
Jokic is the best player in the world and that certainly translates to international basketball where he has Serbia dreaming of a medal. They’ll open play against the USA as their in the same pool for group play. The Serbian team features several strong players including an NBA backcourt of Vasilije Micic and Bogdan Bogdanovic. They arguably have as good a chance as any team in this competition to dethrone the United States.
Jamal Murray - Team Canada
Murray had a disappointing playoff run and didn’t look fully healthy when it came to an end. But rather than resting up, he’s trying to help lead Canada to an Olympic medal. This is arguably the best Canadian team of all time and Murray is a big part of that, making up a star backcourt alongside MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They’ll have their work cut out for them though as they were placed in the ‘Group of Death’ featuring medal-hopefuls Greece, Spain, and Australia.