The Dallas Mavericks , behind the stellar play of superstar Luka Dončić , made it out of the Western Conference and to the NBA Finals last season.
Then, they added one of the best shooters in league history in Klay Thompson this summer to pair with the duo of Doncic and Kyrie Irving .
Anthony Edwards made the leap to superstardom, guiding the Minnesota Timberwolves to the West Finals.
The Oklahoma City Thunder earned the conference’s No. 1 seed despite having one of the youngest rosters in the NBA .
The L.A. Lakers still have LeBron James and Anthony Davis . Olympics hero Stephen Curry is still leading the Golden State Warriors . Kevin Durant and Devin Booker , both of whom also helped Team USA win gold in Paris, are entering a second full season together with the Phoenix Suns .
The Western Conference is stacked with established veterans and young superstars on the rise.
All this without mentioning the Denver Nuggets and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic , who are just two years removed from winning an NBA Championship. Despite Jokic’s status as arguably the best player in the world, Denver is drifting down the West pecking order.
The franchise needs to make a move (or moves) to freshen up the roster before it’s too late to recover..
The 27-year-old has a list of injuries getting lengthier by the season. He tore his ACL in 2020-21 and missed all of 2021-22.
He returned, though, to help the Nuggets down the stretch in 2022-23 and averaged 26.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists on 47/40/93 shooting splits across 20 playoff games as a critical part of that title-winning squad.
But the injury bug bit again last year as Murray dealt with various maladies and only played 59 games during the regular season. He played through an elbow injury in Denver’s 12 playoff games but was clearly limited as he shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from three.
He had his moments, but he also had some clunkers, like in Game 6 of the Minnesota series when he scored 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting in a wild 45-point loss.
Then Murray struggled in the Olympics when Team Canada could have used a boost from one of its best players. He averaged 6.0 points per game, shooting 7-for-17 from the field and 2-for-14 from three.
The former Kentucky star simply doesn’t look like the same player he was when he helped Jokic win a title.
Denver finished with the best record in the Western Conference (53-29) the year it won the title. Last year, the Nuggets tied the Thunder for the top record in the West at 57-25.
The regular season hasn’t been the problem. Last year, the grind and attrition of the playoffs slowed down Murray and the Nuggets.
In last year’s conference semifinals, Denver had Edwards and the Timberwolves on the ropes. Minnesota lacked playoff experience, while the Nuggets were the defending champions and had only to win a Game 7 at home to reach the conference finals.
Yet it was the veteran group that blew a 15-point halftime lead in their own building and exited the postseason early.
The first problem is that this is becoming a trend: Despite finishing with a top-3 seed in the West in five of the past six seasons, Denver has only made one finals appearance.
The second problem is the reason behind that trend: Murray’s untimely injuries and decline in play.
With Jokic around, the Nuggets should never undergo a complete makeover. But rather than signing Murray to a $200-plus million contract, it’s worth scouring the market to see who might be willing to take a chance on him bouncing back like he did in 2022-23.
Denver is top-heavy with Jokic, Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon. The bench struggled last year in the playoffs, putting a limit on how far the Nuggets could really go.
That problem hasn’t been solved. If anything it’s worsened after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left in free agency to join the Orlando Magic .
Dealing Murray for a few high-level role players might be the smart move for Denver. If the front office can do something similar with Porter Jr., all the better.
There should be no shortage of interest around the league for a 27-year-old who can score, facilitate and has been a critical piece of a championship team.
It might be painful, but it might also be the intelligent move for the Nuggets organization to move on from one (or two) of its homegrown stars.
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