Tag: Denver Nuggets

The NBA Cup’s schedule loophole directly contradicts what the tournament was trying to prevent

The NBA Cup schedule is ruining its own mission and there’s no real way to fix it.

The biggest reason NBA commissioner Adam Silver wanted to institute the NBA Cup was to inject interest in a long, arduous 82-game season.

The common refrain was that many casual league observers didn’t start paying attention to it until after the All-Star Break in late February. That’s because many NBA teams and stars don’t take the early portions of the season all that seriously themselves. You should compare November to April basketball yourself someday soon when you get the time. The difference is night and day.

So, here’s a tournament like the NBA Cup with fancy, temporary courts and gaudy jerseys designed to add an extra competitive edge to the part of the year when many squads are still clearly easing their way into the action.

Sounds simple and straightforward, right?

As we enter the knockout rounds of the 2024 NBA Cup, Silver and his cronies failed to account for a significant loophole in the proceedings. As it stands, the 22 NBA teams who don’t qualify for the knockout rounds essentially get almost a week off, just about six weeks into the regular season.

In effect, this schedule loophole directly contradicts what the NBA Cup was trying to prevent.

Look at the below schedule. The next non-NBA Cup game isn’t until Thursday, December 12! The overwhelming majority of the league already eliminated from this year’s Cup play is getting three, four, or even five days off right before the holiday season. And because the NBA is trying to center the remaining Cup teams with a bigger spotlight, it can’t meaningfully shift around the schedule to mitigate this gap. It doesn’t want non-Cup teams playing when the quarterfinals are happening.

We cannot underestimate how valuable this is to NBA players who play games every other night, play back-to-backs, and travel cross-country all the time.

None of them were born yesterday because they can see how the schedule shakes out in advance:

This isn’t to say that NBA teams want to deliberately miss their chances at winning the Cup. I’m sure some measure of the cash prize motivates many squads, especially those with younger players who have yet to earn lucrative contracts. They’re not going to stop trying altogether.

But put yourself in the shoes of a head coach or superstar for a second.

If it’s mid-November and your team is nursing some light injuries before an NBA Cup group stage matchup, are you really gonna go all out there when you’re trying to play the long game and compete in the spring for the Larry O’Brien Trophy?

If it’s mid-November and your thin-depth hopeful title contender team (like, say, the Denver Nuggets) is trying to get off to a good start by playing everyone heavy early-season minutes, maybe you look at the NBA Cup schedule and realize you get a built-in break that makes that bold, development plan easier to institute if you miss out on the knockout rounds.

If you’re a reigning champion like the Boston Celtics, why not get more rest now as you plan to play two extra months of basketball later this season? There are bigger fish to fry.

If you’re a veteran team with older stars like the Los Angeles Lakers or Phoenix Suns, wouldn’t you want a week of rest instead? Remember that if you go all the way, you’re also playing an extra 83rd regular-season game, which doesn’t count in the standings, either.

Oof.

Perhaps I’m being too cynical. Maybe NBA players care a lot more about the NBA Cup than I realize. I’m willing to hear arguments to the contrary.

But I’ve seen enough patterns from league organizations already to suggest they understand there aren’t any real consequences for failing to advance to the knockout rounds. (Not that there should be; that would be silly, too.) If anything, they know that if they fall short of the Cup early, they get a massive benefit of rest that is extremely rare within the context of the entire season.

This Cup schedule gap is something the NBA will, unfortunately, never be able to account for. I don’t think players and coaches want the league to figure it out, either.

Nikola Jokic suggested benching, pay cuts for Nuggets teammates after brutal loss to Wizards

Nikola Jokic is so frustrated with the lackluster Nuggets right now.

Through just about a fourth of this NBA season, Nikola Jokic has had another remarkable MVP-caliber campaign. The reigning MVP has been absolutely dominant from start to finish, perhaps better than ever. You could not say the same for his middling (and weirdly disjointed) Denver Nuggets, who have lost seven of their last 11 games at the time of this writing.

After the Nuggets fell to the league-worst Washington Wizards on Saturday night — in a game where Jokic put on a masterclass with 56 points, 16 rebounds, and eight assists — the big man was clearly tired of everyone else’s lackadaisical efforts.

When asked about what he wants to see from his Denver teammates after the embarrassing Wizards loss, Jokic, in a very Serbian way, suggested that the other Nuggets get pay cuts for not doing their jobs properly. He expanded on that by saying that perhaps a benching or two for underperforming Nuggets players would also have an effective message moving forward.

Hoo boy. It’s not often that Jokic is this direct and openly frustrated.

How can you blame him?

And here’s a video of Jokic’s biting comments:

It’s not hard to see why Jokic would finally be this critical of the other Nuggets. At times this season, it has felt like Jokic has had to defeat other teams by himself, at least production-wise. Denver is literally the NBA’s best team when he’s on the floor on a statistical basis, and it’s the worst team, by far, when he’s off. Jokic is so great that he can elevate the Nuggets to wins by himself sometimes, but that’s not sustainable. He can’t do it every night.

Denver’s problems also all seem to stack on top of each other.

After signing a max contract, Jamal Murray has not pulled his weight. At all. Despite a push to be more versatile, Michael Porter Jr. still kinda looks like a one-dimensional scoring forward. Thanks to general manager Calvin Booth, the Denver bench, for the umpteenth straight year, is a disaster. Part of that blame also lies on head coach Michael Malone, who hasn’t figured out an adequate non-Jokic lineup in a long time, but there’s only so much a coach can do when they only have 7-8 viable every-night rotation players.

What’s even worse is it’s not readily apparent that these Nuggets like playing with each other anymore. They look like a team with internal tension in the organization that is letting that bleed over to the court. Jokic aside, they have been making the same careless mistakes on both ends of the floor for six weeks now.

That is no longer an anomaly. It is a trend. It just might be who these Nuggets are. They look like a team ready for a big change in the form of a shake-up trade or someone getting fired. Or both.

It’s not Jokic’s style to call everyone out like this. In fact, while completely justified, I’d be shocked if he ever even demanded a trade out of Denver. He’d sooner retire after his current contract expires before making a big public scene. Rocking the boat is just not who he is.

So, it speaks volumes that Jokic is now deciding to speak out because he’s breaking character. He’s fed up because he wants to win, and he wants more help doing so. The other Nuggets — players, coaches, and front office included — had better start listening.

Broncos, Nuggets players campaign for Travis Hunter to win Heisman

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton and CB Pat Surtain are campaigning for Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter to win the Heisman Trophy.

Colorado athletes stick together.

Buffaloes wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter is one of two frontrunners to win the Heisman Trophy this season, with Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty his biggest competition for the award in 2024.

Hunter is currently considered the favorite, but Jeanty is not far behind. To help the cause, Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton and cornerback Pat Surtain wore t-shirts endorsing Hunter ahead of their Monday Night Football game against the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 2.

The school sent the shirts, but Surtain told a reporter that Hunter doesn’t need “any help” after making a strong case to win the trophy this season.

Sutton told the Denver Post that Hunter is “not just playing both sides of the ball, but has been dominant on both sides of the ball.”

Broncos players were not alone in their support for Hunter. The Denver Nuggets have also endorsed the Heisman candidate:

Four Heisman finalists will be announced on Dec. 9 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 14.

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Nikola Jokic was so comfortable during another Nuggets win over the Lakers that he tried an 80-foot one-hand shot

Nikola Jokic has an absolutely incredible imagination.

Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets have been dominant over the Los Angeles Lakers in recent years.

With Denver’s 127-102 road win over L.A. on Saturday night, the Nuggets have now won 13 of 14 games over their Southern California rivals and have ended their season in two straight playoffs. The Nuggets’ dominance over the Lakers has been so profound lately that it’s probably time to unveil a proper nickname like “NikoLA” or “Jok Angeles.”

This success is mainly thanks to Jokic’s sheer brilliance, of course, which is why you’re here in the first place.

READ MORE: Nikola Jokic is somehow better than ever 

In the midst of another sublime 34-point, 13-rebound, eight-assist performance, the reigning NBA MVP kinda just started screwing around as the Nuggets toyed with the Lakers in a 70-39 second half for Denver.

With just 0.3 seconds left on the third-quarter clock, Jokic directed promising Nuggets forward Peyton Watson to inbound a generous lob in his direction. Jokic proceeded to one-tap the ball nearly the full length of the court like he was playing water polo, not basketball. And folks, it was actually a lot closer than you’d ever expect it to be. In fact, because of Jokic’s quick one-tap approach, it would’ve beat the buzzer, too!

The big man’s imagination knows no bounds:

This is how seriously Jokic takes the Lakers now: he starts doing personal side quests in the middle of blowout wins.

Nonetheless, let’s think about this. How many NBA players would even think of trying something as incredulous as this? Jokic’s outside-the-box thinking and creativity as a professional athlete are things we should really appreciate more.

It’s also worth mentioning that Jokic did make a more reasonable (but still ridiculous) water polo-type shot earlier in the game with three Lakers surrounding him in the paint:

Man, Jokic is impossible.

What a joy to watch the Nuggets’ superstar center play this game.

The Nuggets redid Russell Westbrook’s Wilt Chamberlain 200 triple-double tribute with a photo just as illegible

Kudos to Russell Westbrook for being a good sport about this.

On Tuesday night, Russell Westbrook became the first player in NBA history to record 200 triple-doubles in a Denver Nuggets’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies. For one of the more unique talents and personalities in basketball history, it’s an achievement of longevity and success worth celebrating and then some.

So much so that it should get the iconic Wilt Chamberlain tribute, complete with a blank white piece of paper and a thick black marker.

The Nuggets appear to agree, but it really doesn’t seem like they know how to properly execute it.

They gave Westbrook the initial honor of doing the Wilt copycat photo with a “200” written on a piece of paper. The problem is that the 200 appears to be written with the thinnest possible writing utensil — not a thick black marker — so it’s hard to see when you squint.

For a cool milestone moment in an NBA legend’s career, it’s a little disappointing:

The awkward part about this whole thing is that Westbrook appeared to disapprove of the thin writing, too. In a post on his Instagram, Westbrook edits out the Nuggets’ 200 by unsubtly putting a 200 in big and bold font.

You know, so his achievement is more visible when he shares it and keeps it for himself. Honestly, I get it!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DClIOnBRhyH/?hl=en

Two days later, the Nuggets tried to rectify their mistake. This time, to hopefully make it more visible, they gave Westbrook a giant piece of poster paper with 200 written on it. Surely, now you’d be able to see it perfectly, right?

Wrong, because they used a thin writing utensil AGAIN:

Well, at least Westbrook appears to appreciate the gesture and attempt to correct the first Chamberlain tribute. It looks like he was a good sport about it.

Still, man … how do you get that wrong twice? Just fill in the numbers, folks! Why is that so hard?? It boggles the mind.

The Nuggets’ demise was greatly exaggerated because Nikola Jokic is truly better than ever

Nikola Jokic is unbelievably more dominant than ever.

I never saw Michael Jordan truly play in his prime. I’ve been watching some measure of NBA basketball for about 20 years, so I’ve been around for just about the entirety of LeBron James’ legendary career. I know the tremendous history presented by guys like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

So it’s critical I get this out in the open, even while I understand some folks might consider the sentiment blasphemous.

For me, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic is one of the small handful of most outstanding basketball players that I’ve ever seen. He’s a singular all-time talent. Depending on the day and mood, you might convince me he’s the best I have ever laid two eyes on. Yes, he belongs in that Jordan and James conversation.

There is no other reasonable conclusion after watching Jokic enter Year 10 of his career this season — after already winning a regular-season MVP or NBA Finals MVP in each of the last four years — and somehow being more dominant than ever (seriously) on a Nuggets team some thought would be in frustrating transition.

In fact, just 10 games into 2024-2025, Jokic is the clear frontrunner for a fourth regular-season MVP. With him averaging a near 30-point triple-double (c’mon) so far while shooting over 50 percent from 3 on high volume (C’MON!), the competition isn’t close. (He’s also tied for sixth in deflections and tied for 10th in steals.) As a result, instead of falling into a spiral of drama and malaise, the 7-3 Nuggets remain top-flight championship contenders.

Look at these numbers. Look at these NBA 2K-level numbers. Really, look at them.

It should be confounding. It shouldn’t make any sense whatsoever. Yet, with Jokic, it somehow all comes together in perfect harmony.

He is truly better than ever. That’s so ridiculous to think about, man.

Jokic’s potent new-look Nuggets offense 

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Every nugget (no pun intended) about Jokic’s transcendent 10-game start boggles the mind.

On top of already orchestrating Denver’s offense like a conductor at the helm of a well-tuned machine the way he always does, Jokic is now pushing the pace for one of the fastest teams in the NBA. (Hello, Russell Westbrook Effect.) A year after playing a mostly effective but rigid style of offense with the 26th-ranked pace, Denver is seventh in the NBA in offensive pace at the time of this writing. According to Nuggets staff writer Matt Brooks, they are sixth in the NBA in transition possessions per game and lead the NBA in cuts. This happens while Denver remains an elite top-five half-court offense, per Cleaning the Glass.

Uh … what?

This chameleon-like mix accentuates Jokic’s best gifts: touch and anticipation. On top of already working for a quality shot at all costs in the half-court, Jokic now gets to ignite the sneaky Nuggets’ athletic group in transition for tons of easy baskets with his trademark dynamite passing. Life has never been easier for Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, and, of course, Westbrook.

Those summer concerns about poor spacing and 3-point shooting?

All gone by the wayside with a high-octane Jokic-led Denver offense that emphasizes punishing opposing defenses in every possible way while never giving them a break. At this rate, the NBA’s fourth-ranked scoring offense is downright impossible to gameplan for.

The Nuggets’ genuine team mentality

Nov 2, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) and guard Christian Braun (0) react on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena.
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The wild thing about these Nuggets is that everyone moves off-ball. Everyone runs. Everyone touches the ball. Everyone trusts each other. Essentially, everyone has bought into Jokic’s beautiful game.

The Nuggets are flourishing for it.

Braun has been a revelation as the team’s starting shooting guard as an efficient ball of two-way energy. After a preseason marred by injury, Watson has evolved into a prototypical all-around forward who gives other teams fits every night. Strawther is showing how he’s an empowered, polished scorer with an excellent feel for the game. Following two separate stints with the NBA’s Los Angeles franchises — where he was unceremoniously scapegoated for his unrepentant chaos —  Westbrook has bought in as a vigorous facilitator who understands how vital his mentorship is to each of the former young players. Michael Porter Jr. is no longer a one-dimensional spot-up shooter. He’s now a guy who is finally comfortable putting the ball on the floor and who makes extra plays for his teammates in a fashion that demonstrates the residual effects of Jokic on his mindset.

The fact that Jamal Murray hasn’t yet been himself while Aaron Gordon recovers from a calf strain only magnifies the tremendous progress Jokic and the other Nuggets have already made.

Jokic himself seems to be reinvigorated by this unfiltered chaos and energy. He’s playing with a simultaneous edge and joy in the sheer drudgery of November games like we haven’t seen in a while. On top of being a do-it-all-superstar who does all the little and big things, you can tell there’s something a bit different about Jokic’s approach to this season when he’s being this vocal while coaching his teammates in the huddle.

Anyone that still says he doesn’t care about the game so much doesn’t know what they’re talking about:

Just remember that the above happened in November.

Jokic’s Nuggets aren’t perfect quite yet

Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

While matters seem hunky dory so far, Jokic’s Nuggets still have things to work on.

The young wings have been good, but they have a way to go before they’re ready to contribute quality minutes in a tense playoff atmosphere. Even while brimming with electric playmaking talent, the defense remains a work in progress over finer details like cohesiveness and communication. Denver also definitely needs to find a way to temper Jokic’s minutes (38.1, the highest of his career to date) in a way that preserves him for the postseason while ensuring the Nuggets can still win some games in pursuit of one of the Western Conference’s top seeds. I don’t doubt Jokic could maintain his current monster level of play over an extended season. But Denver is not in the business of wearing him out before the crucible of the playoffs and a hopeful second title run.

His workload will have to come down eventually.

However, these concerns look like they’ll be addressed, albeit gradually, over the next several months.

Because the Nuggets’ process as a marquee title contender looks impeccable right now. They’re doing all the right things against some of the NBA’s best teams and learning valuable lessons about themselves in the process. It’s still early, but they’re on track in every meaningful way.

You can see Denver starting to build toward something special.

A clear statement from the best player in the world

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

All this early-season success is thanks to Jokic, who has unbelievably taken his game to another level in his age-30 season. The gap has never been wider between him and the next-best player in the NBA. And he’s decided to bring everyone on his team along for the ride by leading by example. I suppose I shouldn’t say I’m shocked. When you’re watching one of the greatest athletes to ever palm a bouncy orange ball, all bets are off. Their peerlessness should probably be the expectation, not some dream ceiling you could never fathom.

Welcome to the NBA season where a fiery Nikola Jokic decided to stop giving a solitary inch to everyone outside of his bubble.

We should be excited and terrified at the same time.

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Michael Malone sarcastically ripped Nikola Jokic MVP voter fatigue amid his tremendous start to 2024

Michael Malone thinks NBA MVP voters need to respect Nikola Jokic MUCH more.

In year 10 of his illustrious NBA career, it seems like reigning MVP Nikola Jokic is better than ever.

To help bring his Denver Nuggets to a sharp 7-3 record, Jokic is averaging an astonishing 29.7 points, 13.7 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and one block per game while also enjoying an efficient true shooting percentage of 67.1. For perspective, he’s averaging a near-30-point triple-double and sits fourth in the league in scoring while leading the entire NBA in rebounds and assists. If that weren’t enough, the Serbian big man is fourth in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (56.4) on a moderately high volume of four attempts per game. Phew.

For all intents and purposes, after a regular-season MVP or NBA Finals MVP in each of his last four seasons, Jokic has been transcendent through 10 games, even by his already high standards. He is the clear best player in the world — there is no “arguably” — and the gap between him and the No. 2 player (whoever that might be) seems wider than ever.

But if you ask Denver head coach Michael Malone, Jokic’s play so far this season apparently hasn’t been that impressive. After Jokic dropped 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists on the Dallas Mavericks in a thrilling Sunday night win, Malone said he hoped Jokic would “probably be fifth in MVP voting.”

Wait, what? Oh, Malone was joking, and it’s easy to see why:

Malone will never confirm it himself, but there’s a decent chance he saw an absurd NBA MVP ladder that put the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis and the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum over Jokic in this year’s early MVP conversation last week. While those two stars have also been awesome, given how utterly incredible Jokic has been for a Nuggets team that has needed him to play this well just to have a chance to win, lists like that reek of “voter fatigue,” a.k.a. people being tired of Jokic winning the league’s most prestigious individual honor in the regular season. Again.

And it’s not hard to see why Malone likely thinks that that sentiment is ridiculous, as he watches his superstar player put his team on his back every single night:

It’s still so early, and anything can happen in an arduous 82-game season. More importantly, Jokic is also past the point of caring about chasing regular-season MVPs. He and the Nuggets are trying to win championships first and foremost, meaning they will likely have him turn off the jets the closer we get to the postseason so he can conserve his energy for a hopeful (and long) NBA title run. Jokic’s Nuggets have bigger fish to fry these days.

But I’m gonna tell you this right now and remember it well. Davis is having a great season. So is Tatum. So is the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant. They are still nowhere near the same stratosphere as Jokic right now. It’s not even close. No one impacts or controls a game more, and he somehow took another massive step forward. And if the all-time center actually does average even, say, an impeccably efficient 25-point triple-double throughout the entire season for a contending Nuggets team, he will be taking home a fourth NBA MVP award.

Full stop. Voter fatigue about Jokic be damned.

The esteemed honor would lose a ton of credibility if anyone else got it in that scenario.

Christian Braun said Nikola Jokic scaring Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert over play prediction is normal

Nikola Jokic keeps finding new ways to amaze everyone.

The Denver Nuggets may have lost their first matchup this season with the fellow Western Conference heavyweight Minnesota Timberwolves in a thriller last Friday night, but reigning MVP Nikola Jokic still did enough to spook star Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert during a key late-game sequence.

In the Minnesota locker room, Edwards and Gobert openly chatted about how Jokic knew one of their plays out of a timeout before they got into position. The two Timberwolves franchise players couldn’t believe that Jokic telegraphed precisely what they were planning to do.

While it’s not confirmed that the video below was the sequence, it sure seems like it is based on how Edwards and Gobert watch in clear disbelief as Jokic gives directions and tells the other Nuggets where to stand.

The Nuggets obviously got a stop on the play:

On Monday, as the Nuggets prepared for a home game against the Toronto Raptors, Denver starting shooting guard Christian Braun was asked about Jokic spooking Edwards and Gobert after their conversation went viral. Braun claimed that Jokic really does this kind of thing every game.

For Braun, who is made better by Jokic’s uncanny intelligence and feel for the game, this is just a regular occurrence. That’s absurd, man:

At face value, it’s not surprising that a superstar like Jokic probably watches a lot of film and studies opposing teams’ tendencies. That’s a prerequisite task if you’re going to be an exceptional professional athlete. No elite talent goes out there every night and wings it that much.

But this Jokic instance felt a bit different. Basketball is much more of a free-flowing game than other sports, where film study comes in even handier. The Timberwolves hadn’t even entered their set yet. And Jokic knew exactly what they wanted to do before they initiated it anyway, much to the shock of Minnesota’s two best players.

Jokic is in Year 10 of an illustrious career. Somehow, he’s still finding new ways to shock and amaze everyone who watches him play.

Christian Braun posterized Rudy Gobert and quickly regretted his celebration

The dunk was nasty, the celebration was a bit much.

Christian Braun threw down an early contender for Dunk of the Year on Friday night when his Denver Nuggets visited the Minnesota Timberwolves.

As the Nuggets nursed a six-point lead with barely five minutes left in regulation, Braun took a feed from Russell Westbrook, soared into the lane and launched himself over four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Braun attacking the rim regardless of who’s in front of him is nothing new. Neither was his reaction. The guard let out a road as thunderous as his dunk and shoved Gobert out of the way, starting a bit of a scuffle.

The brouhaha ended with the refs assessing double technical fouls and killing whatever momentum the Nuggets gained from Braun’s dunk. That ended up becoming a turning point for the Timberwolves, who stormed back with a 17-6 run and secured the 119-116 win on an Anthony Edwards go-ahead bucket with 25 seconds remaining.

After the latest tough Nuggets loss, Braun owned up to his part in sparking Minnesota’s run and admitted some regret over his actions.

“I got to be more responsible,” Braun told reporters after the game. “It’s two points. Obviously, those are the plays you want to make and those are the momentum plays I want to make, but getting a tech throws the momentum their way, so I got to do a better job of controlling myself.”

The Nuggets are wasting Nikola Jokic’s time

What a huge mistake from the Nuggets.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you had a happy Halloween and have an amazing weekend ahead of you.

It’s still super early in the NBA season, so it’s probably not the greatest time to overreact to slow starts to all of the teams that aren’t as good as we think they should be at this point. The Denver Nuggets are certainly one of those teams. Denver is 2-2 so far through four games but could easily be 0-4 after eking out two overtime wins against some bad competition early on in the season.

That’s not the part about their season that concerns me most. It honestly doesn’t have anything to do with the play on the court. Rather, I think the front office’s mentality should be raising the Nuggets fans’ eyebrows today.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne is reporting that the Nuggets had a chance to grab Paul George this offseason but passed up on the opportunity. Why? Because grabbing George would’ve required Denver to give up younger players to go along with the salary required.

Here’s Shelburne with more.

“League sources said the Nuggets inquired about Paul George this offseason, but talks never escalated because Denver refused to discuss Braun, Watson or Strawther, and the Clippers weren’t interested in solely taking back future salary — likely the $147 million owed to Porter and Zeke Nnaji.”

Basically, the Nuggets are hesitant to give up on any young pieces, even if it means adding a proven All-Star caliber piece to a championship core.

Here’s the deal. Paul George is, by no means, a sure bet to help the Nuggets win a championship. He was an All-Star last season, but it’s been years since he’s been an All-NBA caliber player. He’ll be 35 years old by the end of this season and his next deal was slated to be very expensive. The Nuggets are wary of the NBA’s second apron, like plenty of other teams around the league are.

BEWARE OF THE APRON: How the NBA’s second apron is breaking your favorite teams apart

But here’s the thing: When you’ve got arguably the best player in the NBA on your side, sometimes you’ve just got to go for it. Sometimes that means going after a player like Paul George. Sometimes it means keeping expensive players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope around. Sometimes it means letting go of younger guys who could turn into something to try and get things done now.

Jokic is 29 years old. He’s in the middle of his prime and coming off of a third MVP season in four years. Getting him the best help possible should be the Nuggets’ biggest priority. That might mean not waiting on Julian Strawther or Payton Watson to pan out.

The Nuggets want to have their cake and eat it, too. It’s the whole “two timeline” approach the Warriors tried, but way worse. At least for Golden State, Jordan Poole had developed into a starter. Jonathan Kuminga was a lottery pick. James Wiseman was oozing with potential.

The Nuggets don’t really have those players. At best, the names on the roster are supplemental pieces who might contribute big this season in bit roles. At worse, they won’t matter at all.

Those are the players Denver is betting on right now. And, after such a slow start to the season, it looks like the risk far outweighs the reward.

Wemby does Wemby things

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Speaking of slow starts to the season, Victor Wembanyama definitely got off to one this year.

That slow start is over after he achieved his second career five-by-five game on Thursday night. He finished the Spurs’ game against Utah with 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocks.

He’s the only player in NBA history younger than 22 years old with a five-by-five game, according to Stat Muse. He also joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only two players in league history of have more than one five-by-five game, per Pod of Fame’s Jim Miloch.

This dude is about to break the NBA.

Shootaround

—  We debated about Bronny James cutting down the nets after his first basket. This is hilarious.

— Speaking of that first basket, LeBron was unmoved. Cory Woodroof has more on it.

— Robert Zeglinski ranked the best rivalries in the NBA today.

— Wemby refusing to speak Chet Holmgren’s name because of their rivalry is pretty wild.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great weekend. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️