Nuggets Are NBA’s Next Dynasty

With reasons ranging from relative youth and active primes to star players under contract for multiple years, I believe the Denver Nuggets will be the next NBA dynasty. 

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Thursday, June 15. The day the Denver Nuggets hosted their Championship parade after defeating a scrappy Miami Heat team in five games. It’s also the same day the Denver Nuggets dynasty begins. Though many may believe I am getting ahead of myself after the franchise captured its first and only championship, there’s no doubt this Nuggets team can’t win multiple titles down the road.

Denver’s starting lineup has an average age of 27 – with veteran 3-and-D wing Kentavious Caldwell Pope being the oldest at 30. Age is an important factor with this squad as they are just entering or amid their respective primes as athletes. Shaquille O’Neal was 28 years old when the early 2000s Los Angeles Lakers won their first title in the three-peat. O’Neal was also the league’s MVP – his first and only MVP. When the Denver Nuggets won their title in 2023, Nikola Jokič was also 28. However, Jokič wasn’t the league’s MVP this year, but he won it the previous two years.

On the other side of the age scale, teams have issues with their young stars. For example, the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs are too young with zero All-Star players; the New Orleans Pelicans have a mammoth-sized issue in Zion Williamson, who has played in less than 47% of his games in his four-year career; and the Memphis Grizzlies have a problem with high-flying guard Ja Morant who has flashed a firearm on social media on multiple occasions as well as a history of wrong behavior.

The contenders out East have issues, too. The Milwaukee Bucks’ best player Giannis Antetokounmpo, can’t make free throws in crucial moments and is surrounded by aging, inconsistent, and expensive stars; League MVP and scoring champion Joel Embiid still cannot make it out of the second round of the playoffs; the Boston Celtics experiment with expensive young stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown might have hit a wall; and the Miami Heat though making the Finals twice the last four years, have come up empty-handed both times, plus Jimmy Butler isn’t getting any younger.

What about the Nuggets” The point-center in Nikola Jokič is incredibly durable, having played more regular season games this past season than other notable frontcourt players such as Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Durability becomes significant nowadays as many of the NBA playoffs and Finals results result from star players suffering injuries at the worst possible time. Sometimes the NBA team that wins the Finals is healthier than more talented or skilled.

In addition, every key player in Denver is under contract for at least the next two seasons except Bruce Brown, who has a player option. There’s more, too.

Two last recommendations: Denver International Airport had better start having direct flights from Serbia, and the NBA needs to include the Nuggets on the Christmas Day slate until 2028.