OKLAHOMA CITY — Michael Porter Jr. was beside himself. The Nuggets’ locker room was emptying, but he felt rooted to his seat, as if he hadn’t earned the right to go home. It was late March, and he was agonizing over a gnarly 3-point shooting slump that had cratered that night at Ball Arena with a 1-for-10 showing. The visiting Chicago Bulls won by 10.
“I lost us that game,” Porter said to nobody in particular, lamenting the glitch in his shooting form. Picturesque when it’s properly calibrated, it felt broken in the moment. Only a handful of teammates were around to hear him. Those who were pushed back, led by Aaron Gordon.
“Absolutely not, bro,” he said, reminding Porter that he’s “one of the best shooters of all time.” The names Steph Curry and Reggie Miller were mentioned. Maybe those comparisons are hyperbolic, but Gordon was decisive with the label. He believed it. He left no room for Porter to contest it.
For several years of build-up to a championship and hardship in its fallout, the Nuggets have been identified by their continuity — specifically, the basketball bond forged between their core quartet. It started with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, stealthy prize picks in the 2014 and 2016 drafts. It evolved to include Porter, drafted in 2018, and Gordon, acquired via trade in 2021.
The four of them drafted an offense of harmony, based around the ball’s kinetic energy. They’ve played off of one another as if they’d been teammates since middle school. They’ve started 166 games together in the last three seasons — 46 in the playoffs.
And they’ve leaned on one another whenever the team has faltered, whenever an individual has experienced a lapse in confidence.
“The game is great. Obviously, playing is amazing. But really, what makes it special is just being around a high-character group of people,” Gordon said. “And the interactions, and the memories that you make and share with a great group of guys.”
As they shook hands and shared hugs on a bittersweet Sunday in Oklahoma City, they had no way of knowing what the future holds. Game 7 against the Thunder might have been the end of this core that brought the Nuggets their first championship. The collective bargaining agreement is knocking at their door. The second apron is a cloak of death for high-dollar rosters like theirs.
“I mean, we didn’t, so obviously we can’t,” Jokic said when asked if he believes Denver can win another ring as constructed. “If we could, we will win it. So I don’t believe in the ‘if, if’ stuff. We had opportunity. We didn’t win it. So I think we can’t.”
Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets speaks to members of the media after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 125-93 win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday, May 18, 2025. The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-3 in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)The mood inside Denver’s eliminated locker room was starkly different from the despair of 2024, when its season ended in the exact same game in the exact same round. That was a team that couldn’t envision a result other than a repeat NBA title, a team that won more regular-season games (57) than any other in Jokic’s career. That was a team that knew a golden opportunity had slipped through its fingers.
This was a more diluted version of the Nuggets that paraded through downtown Denver. A little older. A little wearier in the legs. A little shallower on the bench. Their coach and general manager lost their jobs in the last week of the regular season. Left for dead by the vortex of NBA discourse, they climbed back into fourth place, outlasted the hottest team in the league and pushed the 68-win Thunder to Game 7.
This was a disappointed locker room, but with a perspective shaped by the unusual circumstances.
“We stayed with it,” Murray said. “We had to figure it out. Call some audibles. We had a long journey just to get to this point. I’m proud of the belief that we had. The positivity that we had. The guys staying together.”
It’s a nice story, what this Nuggets team revealed about itself in the face of adversity. Team president and governor Josh Kroenke told The Denver Post that it was the proudest he’s been of any Jokic-era team aside from the one that raised a banner. He greeted each of the players as they walked off the court in OKC, inviting them to hold their heads high. They rallied around one another, from his viewpoint.
Interim coach David Adelman said he’ll remember these six weeks fondly. The players more or less felt the same way.
But does that qualify 2024-25 as a successful year in totality? Probably not, if the goal remains to win multiple championships with Jokic. Denver technically avoided a second consecutive postseason regression, but its result stagnated while the competition improved. The Thunder won Game 7 the same way it won 68 games. The Nuggets fell victim to the same flaws that caused them to lose their status as a championship favorite.
“I think through the next season, whether I’m here or somebody else is, it’s just about getting to the finish line healthier, and not having to grind like we did through the Clippers series,” Adelman said. “And that’s gonna be a challenge. As these guys get older year by year, we have to maintenance them. And if you’re gonna play a young team like (Oklahoma City) that has unbelievable depth, a very good coaching staff … you have to have the freshest version of yourself. That is part of the reason why I’m so proud of these guys to get this to seven. I mean, we grinded through this.”
Adelman and his players understood that to do so was admirable, but not sustainable. Porter and Gordon, in particular, sacrificed their bodies just to give Denver a chance to pull off the upset. To a certain extent, they succeeded, despite Porter’s poor individual numbers.
Christian Braun (0), Aaron Gordon (32) and Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets react after DeAndre Jordan (6) hit a 3-pointer in warmups before the first quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday, May 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)The Nuggets fielded a starting lineup that was effective enough to beat the best team in the NBA. In 142 minutes shared by Jokic, Murray, Porter, Gordon and Christian Braun during the second-round series, their net rating was a resounding 10.3. The Thunder’s starting lineup was minus-1.3.
But almost every attempted substitution crashed and burned for Adelman. The Thunder’s top three individual net ratings in the series belonged to Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso — all bench players. When that trio was on the floor together, OKC had a 32.5 net rating in 58 minutes.
Denver’s depth was nowhere near good enough, and almost the only way to get meaningfully deeper this offseason outside of player development is to break up that deadly starting lineup. It’s a cruel catch-22. But the Nuggets backed themselves into this corner. The core four accounts for 82% of the payroll, with long-term extensions going into effect for Murray and Gordon.
Both are technically eligible to be traded, but those recent votes of faith would suggest that Porter is the odd man out.
“I feel like we’ve got the pieces, but you know, that’s all up to the top and how they feel about it,” Porter said.
When asked about his confidence that this core will be back together, he shared his appreciation for the Kroenkes, two bygone general managers (Tim Connelly and Calvin Booth), ex-coach Michael Malone and Adelman, then finally his teammates: “Everyone in this locker room means a lot to me. I’m not sure if it’ll be the same exact group next year. But whatever’s next for me, whatever’s next for this team, I know that the guys will be ready for it.”
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Gordon and Murray backed up Porter, stressing confidence in the top of the roster and pride in the team’s resolve. But the looming decision for Nuggets power brokers might require a more cold-hearted evaluation of whether these four can win again.
If the answer is no, someone will be sacrificed, and Game 7 will have been the last ride for a core that once brought unprecedented glory to Denver.
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