Can the Nuggets Win Another Championship?
The Denver Nuggets won their first championship in the 2022-2023 season, off the back of their franchise player Nikola Jokic. At the end of that season, Joker had two regular-season MVPs, a single championship, and an NBA Finals MVP. Since then, he's added another regular-season MVP to his resume, but has had a lack of postseason success. However, it appears that the Nuggets have made sufficient improvements around Joker for him to win ring number two.
In the 2024-2025 season, the Nuggets finished fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 52-30. They then went on to beat the Los Angeles Clippers in a seven-game series, but lost to the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in seven games. Their losing series is where the vision for their upcoming success comes from. The Nuggets were able to take a Thunder team that went on to win a championship to a seven-game series, and they made multiple offseason moves to improve their roster.
The move that the Denver Nuggets made that was the most beneficial to their roster is trading Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for Cameron Johnson. MPJ and Cam Johnson are both similar archetypes of players, with each having the upside of being a lethal shooter and a solid defender. It can be argued that Cam Johnson is a defensive downgrade from MPJ since he's shorter with a smaller wingspan. The real value of this trade is the difference in cost. Cam is making more than $10 million less than MPJ, and the salary reduction has allowed the Nuggets to make more moves to improve the team. The Nuggets were able to sign Jonas Valanciunas as a backup center for Joker. Valanciunas is a solid pickup who can guarantee that the Nuggets can breathe whenever Joker goes to the bench. This also gives them the option to run a double-big lineup. A double big lineup can help hide Joker's defensive weaknesses, similar to how the Knicks use a double big lineup to hide the defensive shortcomings of Karl-Anthony Towns.
The improvements the Nuggets have made around Joker mean that in the upcoming season, he’ll have the best roster around him since winning his first championship. Joker is comfortable still in his prime; he finished the previous season averaging a triple-double and came in as the runner-up for MVP. If Joker with a lesser roster took the champions to a seven-game series, then with this improved roster, he’ll have all the support needed to win it all. It's very likely that this time next year, the main thing NBA fans and analysts will be discussing is whether Joker can win his third championship.
