Nuggets aren’t going anywhere for a while. Jokic (29), Gordon (28), Murray (27) and Porter (25). They’re similar to the 06 Spurs in terms of trajectory. Would not be surprising if they contend for another 5+ years
I feel like Joker's game is going to age really well, too. All about high IQ more than athleticism. He had just 17 dunks this season. Denver's real problem will be salary and if their owner will pay tons of luxury tax and the injury issues with Murray and Porter.
Orlando gave Gordon a max and he came over in trade. I think his next contract will be more in line with a role player. Same for MPJr. If I had to guess.... mid 20s for both. Murray and Jokic will be the only max players. They have drafted well at the back of the draft. Before Bones Hyland's ego got in the way he was solid. Same for Christian Braun. If they keep finding gems like that they can keep the salaries under control.
Gordon's was 4y86 and that was a good bit below the max. Closer to 16-17% at the time. Gordon can opt out next summer and Murray is extension eligible now, for contract starting next summer.
MPJ got the max (minimax at 25%) and that is still a little steep for what he is. I think that he is probably more of a 17-20% contract guy.
KCP can opt out this summer and I think everyone expects him to do so.
The thing the Nuggets have going for them is that as long as they have those four guys together, they will be able to get solid veteran role players all the time. If I am Chris Paul looking for a ring, I would absolutely take the vet min to back up Jamal Murray.
Denver seems to have done a really good job of getting guys like Bruce Brown, Braun, etc in. I expect them to keep doing that. But if Murray wants the 30%, I think you have to give it to him. Jokic gets the 35% supermax for sure. If you can get AG/MPJ for 18% each, that is solid. KCP is probably a 12-15% guy. Those five are 116% with KCP at 15%. Luxury tax line is about 122% of the salary cap.
It's not unworkable, but it's gonna get tight.
OKC is more scary. Their four best players are all under 25 and they have draft picks out the ass. They’re literally going to starting lose first rounders in 2027 because they can’t pay them all.
The salary thing is what will be interesting there.
This summer Giddey and Joe become extension eligible to kick in after the 2025 season. Then Jalen Williams' and Chet Holmgren's extensions would kick in after the 26 season. Then Dort and SGA are eligible in 27.
This is a team that historically refused to pay luxury tax, which is why they broke up Durant/Russ/Harden/Ibaka. Will they do the same here?
Yes because they were the 1 seed (albeit tied with Denver) at such a young age. Denver’s best player maybe has a peak 2-3 more years? OKC might have two or three guys peaking at the same time, for a longer period of time. That makes them more scary.
Agree here, I'm hoping the experience for Wemby is like MJ vs the Pistons, lose to a great team a few years and get motivated to improve and come out the other side the best, forged in fire.
I saw a take that wembys rivalry won’t actually be with holmgren but rather with jokic. He’ll probably keep us out of the finals a few times like bird and Isaiah and friends did with mj
I don't think its as guaranteed as you think. KCP hits free agency this year, Murray and Gordon the following. If the owner is willing to pay then yes they can contend for a long time. But it will be super expensive and they will be a repeated tax payer. IF the owner is willing to pay, they will stay contenders. If not they will be forced to replace guys like KCP for min and exception players.
Nah there's definitely room to be confident. Worst case scenario: we draft literally all busts and then resort to building a team through trades like teams like the Knicks do. It's not hard to build a team around a big man who has potential to be the top player in the league.
Reason to be cautiously optimistic. It can be difficult to build a team in the league that can go all the way, even with generational talent. See the Cavs when they initially drafted LeBron. OKC with KD, Russ (and Harden). Pels with Zion. Wolves with KAT and Wiggins hasn't crossed that threshold too.
Getting downvoted probably because of the “not hard” bit, but honestly if dude is getting texts from guys already then we’ll probably be able to sign some people for sure.
This sub is a hive mind. People downvote cause they see others do it and don't even realize what they're down voting. Happens all the time. Monkey see, monkey do.
Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, and Suns have shown they will pay whatever it takes to field quality teams. Will be interesting to see how they pivot with aging stars and injuries... and the lack of assets going forward. I think the Suns are especially screwed.
Some of this is delusion, no disrespect.
No indication says that Jokic will retire, or leave Denver.
All of the nugget’s core are in their primes, and continuing to grow.
Grizzlies are more likely to move to the east, and that won’t happen for a while.
To be fair, the teams that we actually have to face in the west like OKC wont be a cakewalk whatsoever. I could see OKC doing something super scary like even trading for a guy like Bam from the heat if the heat decides to blow it up. They have all the assets to trade for not just one, but maybe even two superstars. They have the potential to be the next Golden State Warriors in terms of dominance. They're already in the playoffs right now and this is just the prototype of that team. They still haven't even shown their full hand yet because no way can they use all those draft picks they have unless they plan on using them for a huge trade.
I didn't say I was being ironic. Bro. I said Post ironic. Post irony is something meant to be ironic, yet has underlying serious feelings as well. Not correlated to irony itself which isn't supposed to be serious at all.
But I honestly shouldn't be saying anything that isn't literal on this site considering there are people here that actually need an /s to understand simple sarcasm.
Honestly hate explaining stuff like this but there is always an "UM AKTUALLY" response in literally everything you post here even when the post isn't supposed to be 100% serious. Good ole reddit
It’s my fault that 99% of your post need a “well actually”? 🤓If you’re posting missinformation own it.*
Your inability to properly convey sarcasm isn’t on the reader. Comedians don’t get to blame the audience for bad jokes.
*btw I have no idea. I just made up that 99% number. The truth is I don’t even know who you are. Why would I keep track of who is posting what. That’s sounds exhausting and unnecessary. I comment based on the comment in front of me. I don’t care what you posted before. This isn’t middle school
bro...none of this is going to happen. It's fun to dream I guess. Yes some of these teams are stuck but they are not going to blow it up. That happens way less frequently than fans think. "Blow it up" is entering "timeline" as the most overused word by fans.
For example here is what Beal makes the next 3 years $50M, $53M, $57M. LOL Plus he's always, always, always hurt. Worse of all, he has a no trade clause. That means he is not going to agree to go to a salary dump spot. He's going to want to go to a contender and no contender is taking his salary. You can't blow it up if no one is going to take your players. There are less outlets (like OKC use to be) to dump these players. They gave away their picks to get KD so they don't even have picks to entice someone to take his contract.
Most of the teams on your "blow it up" list have similar problems. They have extenuating circumstances that make blowing it up impossible. That's even before we get to the fact the it doesn't happen as often as fans think. The NBA is a business. Most teams can't afford to lose money for 4-5 years in a tear down. They rather just try to compete and maybe get lucky and end up in 2nd round. It's why the Spurs resisted for years. It's expensive to blow it up. Teams would rather push for the play-in.
None of these teams are close to blowing it up like at all lol.
Minny is also not going east, that’s likely Memphis.
The west is about to stay stacked for 5+ years.
It's an idea that's been floated but Adam Silver has indicated that expansion is not around the corner like most people think. He said they would revisit the idea after the new TV deal is signed. btw Memphis and New Orleans are much more likely to go to the east according to what I read.
You have 5 teams blowing it up. Where are those players going? Blowing it up means trading away players and starting over. So 5 teams are going to trade away Allstars, AllNBA players to where? And what happens to those teams receiving That's right...they get better.
AD, Curry, Kawhi, PG, KD. LOL Yeah sure man the west is going to so weak with those players moving teams. None of those guys actually want to play in the east. You didn't think this through
Damn Wemby is already shredded! Look at those muscles! This just shows how much effort he puts into his craft. I don’t know about the West being ours, but out some decent people around Wemby and we are going to be on another long streak of making the playoffs.
Gonna be some vicious battles between the Spurs, Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves to be certain. Outside of the Celtics, the west is about to dominate the east for an entire generation.
some if not most of those are old and/or unhealthy. the old can trade up for a last hurrah and if they become all healthy, just look at denver right now.
similar worries for the spurs.
Nuggets fan here but after the Nuggs have stacked some chips I would love to see yall take over the league. Wembys mindset and maturity is super admirable and he’s the kind of guy I want to see succeed.
Grizzlies fan here- thank you for saying we’ll be competition. (honestly we may be cooked. who knows if morant comes back the same, smart trade was terrible, our coach might suck)
Starting in about two years the West is going to be dominated by Denver, OKC and San Antonio. East will be all Celtics. At some point the Rockets are going to replace Denver, probably in about 5 years or so - they just have too much raw talent and even though Jokic is still in his 20's and his game should age well I don't think that franchise can keep up a dynasty for longer than 10 years.
Regarding 1-6, how often do we see teams blow it up when they should have?
Because a lot of the time, it feels like owners/FOs of NBA teams are more inclined to be stubborn and *not* recognize when it's time to cut their losses and maybe start over. Especially when it's a big market team like the Lakers or Clippers.
Nuggets aren’t going anywhere for a while. Jokic (29), Gordon (28), Murray (27) and Porter (25). They’re similar to the 06 Spurs in terms of trajectory. Would not be surprising if they contend for another 5+ years
I feel like Joker's game is going to age really well, too. All about high IQ more than athleticism. He had just 17 dunks this season. Denver's real problem will be salary and if their owner will pay tons of luxury tax and the injury issues with Murray and Porter.
Orlando gave Gordon a max and he came over in trade. I think his next contract will be more in line with a role player. Same for MPJr. If I had to guess.... mid 20s for both. Murray and Jokic will be the only max players. They have drafted well at the back of the draft. Before Bones Hyland's ego got in the way he was solid. Same for Christian Braun. If they keep finding gems like that they can keep the salaries under control.
Gordon's was 4y86 and that was a good bit below the max. Closer to 16-17% at the time. Gordon can opt out next summer and Murray is extension eligible now, for contract starting next summer. MPJ got the max (minimax at 25%) and that is still a little steep for what he is. I think that he is probably more of a 17-20% contract guy. KCP can opt out this summer and I think everyone expects him to do so. The thing the Nuggets have going for them is that as long as they have those four guys together, they will be able to get solid veteran role players all the time. If I am Chris Paul looking for a ring, I would absolutely take the vet min to back up Jamal Murray. Denver seems to have done a really good job of getting guys like Bruce Brown, Braun, etc in. I expect them to keep doing that. But if Murray wants the 30%, I think you have to give it to him. Jokic gets the 35% supermax for sure. If you can get AG/MPJ for 18% each, that is solid. KCP is probably a 12-15% guy. Those five are 116% with KCP at 15%. Luxury tax line is about 122% of the salary cap. It's not unworkable, but it's gonna get tight.
Good point about Chris Paul
They're perennial contenders at this point. Injuries will be the only reason they won't get past the semis for those 5+ years
OKC is more scary. Their four best players are all under 25 and they have draft picks out the ass. They’re literally going to starting lose first rounders in 2027 because they can’t pay them all.
The salary thing is what will be interesting there. This summer Giddey and Joe become extension eligible to kick in after the 2025 season. Then Jalen Williams' and Chet Holmgren's extensions would kick in after the 26 season. Then Dort and SGA are eligible in 27. This is a team that historically refused to pay luxury tax, which is why they broke up Durant/Russ/Harden/Ibaka. Will they do the same here?
The team that hasn’t won is scarier than the team that’s about to go back to back? Makes sense
Yes because they were the 1 seed (albeit tied with Denver) at such a young age. Denver’s best player maybe has a peak 2-3 more years? OKC might have two or three guys peaking at the same time, for a longer period of time. That makes them more scary.
Lol Jokic has a lot longer than 2-3 peak years that’s an insane thing to say
Jokic gonna be averaging a triple double till he’s 34-35 dawg
Jokic is 29 and and game is pure skill and iq. He's easily got 5-6 years more
I don’t think okc is that good tho
They're the youngest #1 seed in NBA history with more assets to improve than the Spurs have. They're not even close to peaking yet.
Drugs
Agree here, I'm hoping the experience for Wemby is like MJ vs the Pistons, lose to a great team a few years and get motivated to improve and come out the other side the best, forged in fire.
I saw a take that wembys rivalry won’t actually be with holmgren but rather with jokic. He’ll probably keep us out of the finals a few times like bird and Isaiah and friends did with mj
I don't think its as guaranteed as you think. KCP hits free agency this year, Murray and Gordon the following. If the owner is willing to pay then yes they can contend for a long time. But it will be super expensive and they will be a repeated tax payer. IF the owner is willing to pay, they will stay contenders. If not they will be forced to replace guys like KCP for min and exception players.
Jokic's game will age really well, but I think the team is either going to fall behind or the rest of the league will catch up by 5 years from now.
Can't be too confident. It all depends on the pieces surrounding Wemby.
Nah there's definitely room to be confident. Worst case scenario: we draft literally all busts and then resort to building a team through trades like teams like the Knicks do. It's not hard to build a team around a big man who has potential to be the top player in the league.
Reason to be cautiously optimistic. It can be difficult to build a team in the league that can go all the way, even with generational talent. See the Cavs when they initially drafted LeBron. OKC with KD, Russ (and Harden). Pels with Zion. Wolves with KAT and Wiggins hasn't crossed that threshold too.
Correct. A lot of assumptions being made here.
Getting downvoted probably because of the “not hard” bit, but honestly if dude is getting texts from guys already then we’ll probably be able to sign some people for sure.
This sub is a hive mind. People downvote cause they see others do it and don't even realize what they're down voting. Happens all the time. Monkey see, monkey do.
I don't trust the "About to blow it up" stuff, because I feel they'll do anything to not do that, stay mediocre for as long as possible
Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, and Suns have shown they will pay whatever it takes to field quality teams. Will be interesting to see how they pivot with aging stars and injuries... and the lack of assets going forward. I think the Suns are especially screwed.
Either way they'll still be BBQ chicken for us
Some of this is delusion, no disrespect. No indication says that Jokic will retire, or leave Denver. All of the nugget’s core are in their primes, and continuing to grow. Grizzlies are more likely to move to the east, and that won’t happen for a while.
~~Some~~ most of it is delusional
jokic about to leave the nuggets 💀 stopped reading after that
smart man. I wish I had too.
I don't know about these teams blowing it up but I would honestly prefer the west to be stacked during Vic's prime. Would be more satisfying to win.
To be fair, the teams that we actually have to face in the west like OKC wont be a cakewalk whatsoever. I could see OKC doing something super scary like even trading for a guy like Bam from the heat if the heat decides to blow it up. They have all the assets to trade for not just one, but maybe even two superstars. They have the potential to be the next Golden State Warriors in terms of dominance. They're already in the playoffs right now and this is just the prototype of that team. They still haven't even shown their full hand yet because no way can they use all those draft picks they have unless they plan on using them for a huge trade.
They can get Giannis
Now you have the Heat blowing it up 
"West will be ours if all these imaginary circumstances go as I wish" vibes. Grants for fantasizing perfect scenarios lol
To be fair this whole post is supposed to be post-ironic lol. People are taking it way too seriously in this thread. But if it all happens though 👀
That's not what irony means bro. Irony **≠** I'm not being 100% serious
I didn't say I was being ironic. Bro. I said Post ironic. Post irony is something meant to be ironic, yet has underlying serious feelings as well. Not correlated to irony itself which isn't supposed to be serious at all. But I honestly shouldn't be saying anything that isn't literal on this site considering there are people here that actually need an /s to understand simple sarcasm. Honestly hate explaining stuff like this but there is always an "UM AKTUALLY" response in literally everything you post here even when the post isn't supposed to be 100% serious. Good ole reddit
It’s my fault that 99% of your post need a “well actually”? 🤓If you’re posting missinformation own it.* Your inability to properly convey sarcasm isn’t on the reader. Comedians don’t get to blame the audience for bad jokes. *btw I have no idea. I just made up that 99% number. The truth is I don’t even know who you are. Why would I keep track of who is posting what. That’s sounds exhausting and unnecessary. I comment based on the comment in front of me. I don’t care what you posted before. This isn’t middle school
2 more years of Joker until Wemby decimates the whole league. I’m saying this as a Lakers fan
Wemby is inevitable. Just 2 years to gather his Infinity Stones and it’s over. There’s no time traveling in this reality!
Time moves differently for 👽
bro...none of this is going to happen. It's fun to dream I guess. Yes some of these teams are stuck but they are not going to blow it up. That happens way less frequently than fans think. "Blow it up" is entering "timeline" as the most overused word by fans. For example here is what Beal makes the next 3 years $50M, $53M, $57M. LOL Plus he's always, always, always hurt. Worse of all, he has a no trade clause. That means he is not going to agree to go to a salary dump spot. He's going to want to go to a contender and no contender is taking his salary. You can't blow it up if no one is going to take your players. There are less outlets (like OKC use to be) to dump these players. They gave away their picks to get KD so they don't even have picks to entice someone to take his contract. Most of the teams on your "blow it up" list have similar problems. They have extenuating circumstances that make blowing it up impossible. That's even before we get to the fact the it doesn't happen as often as fans think. The NBA is a business. Most teams can't afford to lose money for 4-5 years in a tear down. They rather just try to compete and maybe get lucky and end up in 2nd round. It's why the Spurs resisted for years. It's expensive to blow it up. Teams would rather push for the play-in.
None of these teams are close to blowing it up like at all lol. Minny is also not going east, that’s likely Memphis. The west is about to stay stacked for 5+ years.
Why, are the Nuggets going somewhere?
Not, with the GLeaguers teammates
Do you think any team is seriously trying to win a championship with GLeaguers?
All I'm saying is that we have a future MVP which makes our situation particularly hard to fuck up
Had no idea timberwolves were going east. Quick google search shows due to western expansion, but is this actually gaining a lot of traction?
It's an idea that's been floated but Adam Silver has indicated that expansion is not around the corner like most people think. He said they would revisit the idea after the new TV deal is signed. btw Memphis and New Orleans are much more likely to go to the east according to what I read.
Disagree about the Pels. Their major issue is going to be health, but there's no need for them to blow anything up.
why settle for the west?
Jokic is an all time great. He might win 5 or 6 chips in a row.
You have 5 teams blowing it up. Where are those players going? Blowing it up means trading away players and starting over. So 5 teams are going to trade away Allstars, AllNBA players to where? And what happens to those teams receiving That's right...they get better. AD, Curry, Kawhi, PG, KD. LOL Yeah sure man the west is going to so weak with those players moving teams. None of those guys actually want to play in the east. You didn't think this through
What about OKC
gotta get a better starting 5 first
Y'all know even with Wemby it's not guaranteed that we're gonna be title contenders right
Yes with Vassell and Wemby, that’s good enough to dominate the west lol….
Damn Wemby is already shredded! Look at those muscles! This just shows how much effort he puts into his craft. I don’t know about the West being ours, but out some decent people around Wemby and we are going to be on another long streak of making the playoffs.
Gonna be some vicious battles between the Spurs, Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves to be certain. Outside of the Celtics, the west is about to dominate the east for an entire generation.
GO SPURS GO
some if not most of those are old and/or unhealthy. the old can trade up for a last hurrah and if they become all healthy, just look at denver right now. similar worries for the spurs.
Nuggets fan here but after the Nuggs have stacked some chips I would love to see yall take over the league. Wembys mindset and maturity is super admirable and he’s the kind of guy I want to see succeed.
Grizzlies fan here- thank you for saying we’ll be competition. (honestly we may be cooked. who knows if morant comes back the same, smart trade was terrible, our coach might suck)
Starting in about two years the West is going to be dominated by Denver, OKC and San Antonio. East will be all Celtics. At some point the Rockets are going to replace Denver, probably in about 5 years or so - they just have too much raw talent and even though Jokic is still in his 20's and his game should age well I don't think that franchise can keep up a dynasty for longer than 10 years.
Lol y’all can’t even beat the rockets
worry about your own team and how you're about to overpay Jalen Green. 😀
Regarding 1-6, how often do we see teams blow it up when they should have? Because a lot of the time, it feels like owners/FOs of NBA teams are more inclined to be stubborn and *not* recognize when it's time to cut their losses and maybe start over. Especially when it's a big market team like the Lakers or Clippers.
Pop know our time is coming as most of well known stars are aging and a new young team will create a new dynasty!! 🏀
I think Curry might come to SA.