Ranking the Nuggets' potential first-round playoff matchups from easiest to hardest

3rd Hardest: Phoenix Suns

This is another team that the Nuggets disposed of last season on their path to a title, and they won the final two games convincingly. But let’s not dismiss the fact that the Suns were the only team to take more than a game off of them.

The Suns had to get incredible performances from Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to steal those two games in Phoenix, but hey, it happened. And those guys are damn good. They also added a third star in Bradley Beal and swapped DeAndre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic, who has always matched up fairly well (relatively speaking) against Jokic.

The Suns don’t have much depth but Grayson Allen has played well for them this season and Royce O’neale was a solid addition at the deadline. The team has struggled to live up to expectations this season, and they’ve struggled just to stay healthy and keep their big 3 on the floor.

The chances of them suddenly all getting in a groove in time for the playoffs seem slim, but crazier things have happened. If they can suddenly put it all together, they’d be a scary team and they’ve got the thoroughbreds to stay in this race, at least for a while. Phoenix probably wouldn’t get more than two games this time around either, but crazier things have happened.