The Denver Nuggets’ 2024-25 season tips off on Thursday with a trip to Golden State; it’s a season many believe could be special, led by the best player in the sport and a revamped cast after a big offseason.

Last year, the Nuggets took the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder to the absolute brink with a loss in seven games. But that was only after Denver defended home court in the first round to beat the Clippers in a Game 7. With five significant additions to the roster and a new head coach for the first time in a decade, have the Nuggets done the right things to hoist a second banner at Ball Arena?

We asked Nuggets analyst Jake Shapiro, social media guru Aniello Piro, Denver Sports’ editor James Merilatt, host of Dover and Cecil Josh Dover and host of The Drive Zach Bye for their expert picks on the hoops season ahead. In the next seven questions, the group previews the points where the Nuggets season could go awry and who will come out on top this year in the NBA.

Here’s what Denver Sports and 104.3 The Fan’s Nuggets voices have to say.

Nuggets record prediction and playoff future:

Bye: 55-27, NBA champions
Dover: 58-24, NBA champions
Merilatt: 55-27, NBA champions
Piro: 52-30, NBA champions
Shapiro: 54-28, NBA champions

Grade the Nuggets offseason and explain why:

Bye: A-
The Nuggets had a fantastic offseason in adding veteran pieces to go around the world’s best player. Now, they didn’t add an all-NBA player or even another all-star, but I believe the fit of the newcomers will complement both Jokic and Murray. The unselfishness, the high IQ, and the experience the likes of Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Jonas Valanciunas will bring to the table should fit the Nuggets playstyle and revamped culture perfectly.

Dover: A+
They finally added a legit backup Center for Joker! That is something they have never done. Plumlee was not it; Najji was never it & Boogey Cousins spent more time trying to fight teammates in the locker room than he did learning the offense. Jonas Valanciunas is a perfect fit for this team! Tim Hardaway Jr is going to become a fan favorite when he is making his 3s, Brucey B is back, and they upgraded in a major way, trading MPJ for Cam Johnson!

Merilatt: A+
I love what the Nuggets did this offseason. Even though I’m a big MPJ fan, it was time to move on; Michael Porter Jr. just didn’t have the killer instinct or championship mettle that is needed in the playoffs. Cam Johnson will be just as effective when it comes to scoring and rebounding, an upgrade on defense and a big improvement just in terms of intangibles. Jonas Valanciunas is the first legitimate backup big man Denver has had since Mason Plumlee. Plus, he gives David Adelman some lineup options that will be fun to watch; they can finally go big if they want to.

Bringing back Bruce Brown is a great story; we’ll see if he can rekindle the magic from three years ago. And Tim Hardaway Jr. is a great depth addition. Simply put, a team that was exposed for having no depth against the Thunder in the playoffs last season now has an abundance of it.

Piro: A

What MORE could the Nuggets have done this offseason? They flipped Michael Porter Jr. for an excellent role player in Cam Johnson who should fit in perfectly with this team. While I think MPJ has a higher ceiling than Johnson, Johnson’s skillset is exactly what this team needs. I’ll take the expected consistency of Johnson over the boom-or-bust play of Porter.

They added quality depth by bringing back Bruce Brown and adding Tim Hardaway Jr., two guys who can help solve the ever-troubling non-Jokic minutes. Both guys also have an ability to play in the starting lineup as needed. Denver also has their solution at backup center in Jonas Valančiūnas, a quality big that has big upside and should solve arguably the biggest problem the Nuggets have had in the Jokic era. The cherry on top is DaRon Holmes being healthy. While he is not an offseason addition, he missed his entire rookie season due to injury, so he should impact the Nuggets in a positive way with whatever his role may be this season.

Shapiro: A-

The Nuggets had a nearly perfect offseason, but the one issue is that they did not get the most important business done: signing Nikola Jokic to an extension. Denver fans shouldn’t be worried since it makes fiscal sense for the three-time MVP to play this out for another year and get more money overall. Still, it’s not done, and technically speaking, anything can happen until that is inked.

Around Jokic, the Nuggets are looking to recreate the perfect blend of shooting, defense, and playmaking that made the 2022-23 season special. I believe they’ve found it by trading for Johnson, refocusing Aaron Gordon back to defense, locking up Christian Braun, adding Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. for depth, and finally getting a proper backup big for Joker in big Val. The Nuggets have a far better bench, a more suitable group of starters around Jokic, and should have a much better vibe, which David Adelman found in the playoffs.

Who is the X factor for this Nuggets season and why?

Bye: I’ll regretfully go with Jamal Murray. I say regretfully because Jamal Murray is a max player who has won a title and shouldn’t really qualify for the X-factor discussion, but he does. For two postseasons in a row, Murray has been up and down. Murray scored 17 points or less in 3 different games in the OKC series. The Nuggets went 0-3 in those games, including scoring 5 points in the first half of game 7. His conditioning, professionalism, and overall dependability have taken a step back in the last two years. He needs to be the best version of himself if the Nuggets have legitimate title aspirations.

Dover: The Nuggets’ x-factor is and always will be Jamal Murray! When he is in shape, in the right mental space and cares about being a professional basketball player, this team is almost impossible to beat. The problem is he has not been those things in two years, SO will the real Jamal Murray please stand up??

Merilatt: Valanciunas. How long have Nuggets fans been hearing about Denver trying to survive the non-Jokic minutes? It seems like forever. Now, they have a player who can actually fill the void, at least to some extent, when Nikola is on the bench. Plus, they have someone who can start if the Joker needs a night off. He totally changes how the Nuggets can approach games.

Piro: Jamal Murray. When Jamal Murray finds his flow state, it makes the Nuggets a really tough team to beat. We all expect Nikola Jokić to do Nikola Jokić things. If Murray can step up and channel “playoff Jamal” for a majority of the season, the Nuggets could reach another level. Jamal’s consistency, along with the depth Denver added, could make all the difference for them this season.

Shapiro: It’s clearly David Adelman. What makes him different as a coach from Michael Malone? Can he take the good from Malone, which he was a part of as his right-hand man on the bench, along with cutting out the bad by adding his new ideas? Everything we’ve known about the Nuggets, their ebbs and flows from the last decade under Malone, could be out the window. Will Jokic’s rotations change? Does Denver’s defensive makeup differ? Will he have a shorter leash on the starters and vets?

I have faith, based on Adelman’s time on the bench and his 20 games leading the Nuggets last spring, that he’s the right man for the job. But there will be rough patches and Malone instilled an unreal toughness in the team. Last year, Malone started taking shots at his players, even publicly. How will Adelman communicate with his team? Will we see that difference?

What’s the ceiling for this year’s team, and how do they get there?

Bye: The ceiling for this team in winning the NBA title. They get there by Jokic staying healthy and his workload decreasing in the regular season. This should happen as JV is the best backup center the team has had during Jokic’s prime. David Adleman also has to be the right guy at HC, which I’m still unsure about. Has a coach ever had more postseason games on his resume than regular-season games? I don’t think so. So we still need to see what it looks like over 82 games plus playoffs. He’ll have to navigate things he never had to as an assistant. Does he have the chops for this? Only time will tell.

Dover: Win the whole damn thing!! They get there with Joker doing Joker things, Jamal returning to the player he was in the championship season, which means a reliable player all regular season and a star in the playoffs. Christian Braun takes another step, Cam Johnson shows he’s a better basketball player than MPJ, maybe not a shooter, but a better baller, and the bench is actually used and thrives!

Merilatt: It’s another NBA title. Last season, they gave the Thunder the biggest test the eventual champs had in the postseason. And they did it with four healthy players. Given their offseason additions, as well as the change in culture that comes from bringing in Cam Johnson for MPJ, they have a great chance of besting OKC this year in the postseason. If they do, they’ll be in the HOV lane toward a championship.

Piro: NBA Champions. I truly think the only thing that can derail the Nuggets this season is injuries to key players. The Nuggets pushed the Thunder to 7 games with essentially 4.5 starters and a bench that was a mess… while firing their head coach just before the playoffs started. The Nuggets have the best player in the world. Jamal Murray seems dialed in.

David Adelman has a good grip on the locker room from what we’ve seen and heard. They added quality, depth pieces. This is the best Nuggets team on paper in the Nikola Jokić era. Yes, even better than the 2023 NBA Title squad. There is not a single team in the NBA that the Nuggets should fear.

Shapiro: Everyone else in here will tell you the ceiling is a title. I’ll go further — the ceiling is becoming undisputably the best Nuggets team of all time. They can win 60 games and set a franchise record, and maybe they don’t get through the playoffs in just 20 games, but they could beat an even better team in the playoffs than they matched up with during their title campaign: this Thunder group.

What’s the floor for this year’s team, and why did it go so badly?

Bye: The floor for this team is a first-round exit with a bad matchup. Sounds impossible, right? Don’t forget the Nuggets were a buzzer-beating Aaron Gordon dunk in the Clippers series from potentially getting bounced in the first round last year. ESPN’s analytics team simulated the upcoming season, and they had a scenario where Denver loses to the Rockets in the opening round. Do I think that will happen? No. But if Murray can’t correct course, the newcomers aren’t as good a fit as initially thought, or Adleman doesn’t have the chops to coach at a high level consistently, then it could spell trouble.

Dover: Miss the playoffs, and the only way I see this happening is with multiple injuries. This team is too deep and led by the Serbian Basketball god to miss the playoffs!

Merilatt: They could be a lottery team, but only if something catastrophic happens on the injury front. And I don’t even want to put in writing who I’m talking about.

Piro: 2nd round exit. Yes, on paper, the Nuggets look rock solid, but there are some new dynamics in play. Was Adelman truly the right choice for the job? How will he handle things when the going gets tough? Will Cam Johnson fit in seamlessly with the starters? These are all questions that will be answered when the season gets going. As long as Nikola Jokić is healthy, the Nuggets should win at least one playoff series. We will have to see where the dominoes fall with all of the other moving pieces.

Shapiro: What if Adelman is bad? What if Murray gets hurt again? Those are both in the realm, and there’s no good solution for either problem. To a lesser extent, what if Johnson doesn’t mesh, what if Hardway and Val are washed? If any of these things happen, the Nuggets will not win the title, and if some of these things happen in combination, the Nuggets could fall into a tough first-round matchup with little hope.

What will Nikola Jokic’s season look like?

Bye: Jokic will have his most efficient season of his career, but because the Nuggets have a better team around him this season, his raw numbers will take a dip. I also expect Denver to win some games in blowout fashion, in a way they haven’t done in recent years. That means plenty of 4th quarters with the big fella sitting on the bench, which will decrease his former MVP numbers. I’ll have him finishing 3rd in MVP voting.

Dover: Joker will be in the MVP conversation again, but will not win it. He has more help this year than he ever has, and the Jokers deniers will hold that against him, and that is just fine because another finals MVP should be on its way!

Merilatt: Jokic will win his fourth MVP, which will put him in rarified air in terms of all-time greats.

Piro: I’m expecting yet another masterclass from the Joker. He will average a triple-double, or at least be within spitting distance of that. He will finish in the top-3 in MVP voting again, although I’m not sure he will win it this season. But hey, the Nuggets won the championship in a season where he wasn’t the MVP despite his jaw-dropping play.

Shapiro: He ends up with his name next to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as one of the seven best players of all time; that’s what winning a fourth MVP and a second championship will do for his legacy. This will be Jokic’s year, cementing his bust among basketball’s very best.

Who will win the NBA Championship in June?

Bye: Nuggets over Cavaliers in six
Dover: Nuggets over Bucks
Merilatt: Nuggets over Knicks in six
Piro: Nuggets over Celtics in seven
Shapiro: Nuggets over Knicks in five