With the NBA regular season now less than a week away, we’re inching towards the offseason finish line, and with that comes every major publication’s final primers. Included in that are many player ranking lists, with The Ringer releasing their latest NBA Top 100 update on Wednesday, their final installment before the season finally begins.
And at the top of those rankings, the Nuggets were featured prominently. Nikola Jokic ranked as the second-best player in the league, behind only Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs. Jamal Murray was also listed as a top-25 player, being ranked 23rd in the league. And Aaron Gordon just missed the top 50, placing 52nd in the rankings.
Nuggets the only West team with two players in top 23
Denver had the highest-ranked duo of any team in the Western Conference, with the next highest second-ranked player on a West team belonging to the Thunder, with Jalen Williams coming in at 25th.
They also had one of the best-ranked big threes, with very few other teams having three players in the top 52, but unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends for the Nuggets, and that’s the crux of the issue facing the team as they aim to make it back to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since winning the title in 2023.
The problem is the same as it has been for years; they simply don’t have reliable depth outside of their big three. You could argue that Cam Johnson was disrespected in these rankings and should have cracked the top 100. Maybe you could say the same for DeMar DeRozan, or maybe you’re buying into a bounceback for Christian Braun.
But the fact that it needs to be debated just highlights the problems with inconsistency. As long as Jokic, Murray, and Gordon are healthy, you know what you’re going to get from them. The same can’t really be said for anyone else. For that reason, the team has run its stars into the ground, and they haven’t had the energy to compete in the playoffs.
Nuggets need role players to contribute
They need to avoid that scenario this season at all costs, and it’s going to take some other guys stepping up and carrying the load during the regular season, so that the big three can actually have a chance to be at their best and shine during the playoffs.
We’ve seen what that group can do when they have that opportunity, as they cruised to a championship in 2023 with everyone at full strength. But since then, they haven’t come close. These player rankings obviously aren’t anything, but they're also a fairly good indicator. When this list is updated after the season, it will likely be very telling.
If the Nuggets have a couple more players enter the top 100, they’ll probably have a very good regular season and be well positioned to make a deep run in the postseason. If the season ends and we’re still talking about just three Nuggets on the list, the team is likely destined to have a repeat performance, familiarly running out of gas and falling short when the chips are down.
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