Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are gearing up for one of the most important seasons in the history of the franchise. It’s been two seasons since they accomplished one of basketball’s greatest feats by winning the NBA championship, and have retooled the roster in a way that has them set up to do it again in 2026.
Everyone in Nuggets Nation seemingly looks to compare this year’s squad to that 2023 squad that went the distance because they’re the only team in franchise history to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy to Denver. That team had a solid combination of shooting and defense to put around Jokic, but wasn’t exactly the deepest squad in the league, as they only had an eight-man rotation in which the seventh (Jeff Green) and eighth players (Christian Braun) in the rotation played for just a combined 30 minutes a game in the playoffs.
Murray, who’s entering his ninth year in the NBA, all with the Nuggets, drew an interesting comparison for this team at Nuggets practice in San Diego on Wednesday, and no, it wasn’t a connection between this team and the title team.
“It actually reminds me of 2020 more, just with some of the weapons that we had off the bench and stuff. Personally, that’s what I kind of relate it to, so I think it’s going to be really fun. When you look at that team, it was Will Barton who was hurt off the bench, Gary [Harris], who was hurt. Bol Bol, Mason [Plumlee], we had Paul Millsap, we had Monte [Morris]. We just had a lot of different guys who could just come in and fill any role and I feel like that’s how we are right now, guys are really interchangeable and yeah, it should be fun,” Murray said.
That 2020 team made it to the Western Conference Finals in the NBA Bubble after coming back from a 3-1 deficit in each of the first two rounds. While the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers were too much for the Nuggets to handle, that was still one of the best teams that Denver has put on the floor in franchise history. There were 10 players in the playoff rotation who played meaningful minutes at all positions. Even though that team didn’t end up being as successful as the 2023 squad, they had the depth to compete with almost anyone in the league.
This year, with the likes of Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas and Bruce Brown being added to the bench unit, on top of the guys like Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett who are bench pieces that have been around, this is one of the deepest teams in the league, and Murray and the rest of the starting five know that.
Training camp continues in San Diego through Friday as the Nuggets prepare for their first preseason action against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night at Pechanga Arena in Southern California.
