2023 - the Nuggets Championship Year

The 2022-23 season has been one for the ages, between comebacks and downs, trades and new signings, as well as record breaking games, this season of the NBA will go down in the history books.

With more than one 71 point game in the regular season, we knew we were about to witness a great postseason. These two games took place within a month or so of each other as Mitchell and Dame broke Devin Booker's record of 70 points in a game.

LeBron James will arguably go down as not only the best player to ever grace the court, but also as one of the top professional athletes ever, AND as an all time leader. LeBron led the Lakers to a western conference finals after being dead bottom for most of the first half of the season. With multiple trades here and there prior to the deadline, he managed to pick teammates that would fit the Lakers core values and pushed for a conference finals as a 7th seed. On top of that, LeBron James averaged numbers that a player would in his prime. He is going to turn 39 in December.

Additionally, we saw the rise of Embiid in the regular season as he won his first ever MVP as well as his second scoring title in consecutive years. He might have beaten Jokic in that run, but going forward, Jokic just kept running towards a Finals MVP.

This season has to be the year Embiid will start to get scrutinised as it is clear now that he does not have the tools and capacity to carry the Sixers further than a second round.

Of course a lot of players were left out of these playoffs, as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving failed to qualify for the Playoffs, while Damian Lillard fell to the bottom 3 teams in the west.

Donovan Mitchell was nowhere to be found against the Knicks in round 1 of the postseason, and so was Ja Morant. Of course you should expect these players to make a comeback in the next season.

But let's talk about the number one team in the League right now, the current champions, the Denver Nuggets. They were not the favorite to win the Championship at the start of the season, despite having an all star and 2 time MVP by their side. Even going into the playoffs, many saw them get eliminated by either the Suns, the Warriors, the Grizzlies, and even the Lakers.

This playoff run will go down in history, as Jokic becomes the first player ever to lead in all major categories (points, rebounds and assists). On top of that, he and Jamal Murray have cemented their position in the league as the deadliest duo to perform against. They might even be the best duo in NBA history, but only time will tell.

Both players recorded a 30 point triple double in the Finals, the first ever to do this in not only the Finals, but in an NBA game in general. Additionally, Jokic became the first player ever to record a 30 point, 20 rebound triple double in the Finals. There is so much to be said and not enough space to write it all, but you get the idea.

Going further, the Nuggets will keep their core roster, with Jeff Green, Christian Braun and Bruce Brown off the bench. We might see more Bruce Brown starting minutes in the upcoming season as he was one of the ebay 6th man in an NBA Playoff run.

Aaron Gordon, MPJ and KCP are sealed to stay with the team at this time, as KCP is already having Hall Of Fame discussions with his second ring. And of course, Murray and Jokic will be running the same show next season, seeing how far they can push this thing.

Head Coach Michael Malone secured his job, as it seems to be trendy to sack your head coach after a postseason defeat. He has been a great leader and tactician for this team and his friendliness shows why this team's chemistry carried them to an NBA Championship.

Furthermore, the Nuggets have no first round pick in this upcoming draft, but will have to deal with the 37th and 40th pick of the 2023 draft. On top of that, they have secured a first round pick in the 2024 draft, where drafting Bronny James would be a possibility.

Although they lack a first round pick this season, the Nuggets previously drafted French big man Ismael Kamagate from the LNB Pro (the same league as Wemby), in the 2022 draft. He came out as the 46th pick and decided to return to France for one more year before joining the Denver Nuggets, in order for him to develop his game.

Coming into the 2023-24 season, Kamagate will be greeted by NBA champions as they will aim to run it back for a repeat.