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Head coach David Adelman of the Denver Nuggets watches as his tam plays the Oklahoma City Thunder during the third quarter at Ball Arena on April 10, 2026 in Denver, Colorado.
The Denver Nuggets seemingly have no interest in holding onto a top-three seed heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale against the San Antonio Spurs, and instead seem intent on helping the Los Angeles Lakers climb in the Western Conference standings.
On Saturday, the Nuggets shockingly announced that Nikola Jokic was questionable for the game against the Spurs, while Tim Hardaway Jr., Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and Spencer Jones were ruled out.
Jokic, who needs to play only 15 minutes to remain eligible for end-of-season awards, is widely expected to log the required minutes and sit out.
If the Nuggets lose to the Spurs and the Lakers beat the lottery-bound Utah Jazz, the latter will finish the regular season with the third seed.
Nuggets Fans Left Perplexed
Denver’s decision to essentially tank the game against San Antonio triggered widespread reactions from its fanbase on social media.
“Can someone explain what the Nuggets are doing?” asked one fan.
“This makes no sense. What are we doing man,” said another Nuggets fan.
By tanking for the third seed, the Nuggets are essentially setting themselves up for a second-round playoff matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One fan felt the decision not to cling to the third seed could backfire badly on David Adelman’s team.
“We have to be brickheads,” fumed a Nuggets fan.
“Minnesota suck this year, Spurs are young and we can nullify Wemby’s defense. And then we can get to OKC after they crawl out of a physical matchup with Houston. Playing OKC in round 2 is stupid.”
How Lakers Benefit from Nuggets Loss
“Why would you throw away the 3 seed?” asked one fan.
“You do realize you don’t get to play the Lakers in the 1st round and will get OKC in the 2nd. Such a foolish strategy. Please don’t tell me you are afraid of the Timberwolves in the 1st round.”
As the fan highlighted, the Nuggets will avoid a first-round matchup with the Timberwolves by dropping to the fourth seed. In such a scenario, the Lakers will face the Timberwolves instead of the Houston Rockets in a 4 vs. 5 matchup.
It’s also worth noting that the Spurs will benefit by beating the Nuggets on Sunday, as they’d avoid a matchup with Nikola Jokic and Co. in the second round of the playoffs.
“The Spurs now have huge incentive to go beat Denver on Sunday. Why? Because a Nuggets loss combined with Lakers win vs. Utah could drop Denver to 4th seed and elevate the Lakers to 3rd in a tight seeding race,” Dusty Garza wrote on X.
“This bracket manipulation avoids a direct second round clash with Denver while OKC would most likely have to face each other in the second round.”
😮 The Spurs now have huge incentive to go beat Denver on Sunday.
Why? Because a Nuggets loss combined with Lakers win vs. Utah could drop Denver to 4th seed and elevate the Lakers to 3rd in a tight seeding race.
This bracket manipulation avoids a direct second round clash with
According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the Spurs plan to go full throttle against the Nuggets and don’t intend to rest their star players, even though Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell are listed as questionable entering the game.
🚨 The Denver starters outside of Jokic are all OUT tomorrow in San Antonio, per the Nuggets
The Lakers are now HUGE favorites to get the 3 seed tomorrow 👀
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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