NBA Power Rankings: Boston Celtics, LA Clippers are getting hot at the right time

7. Denver Nuggets

Before the injury to Jamal Murray, I was leaning towards potentially picking the Denver Nuggets to upset the Los Angeles Lakers in a potential first-round series. Even though I still believe that the Nuggets could give the defending champion Lakers all they could handle in a potential series, I don’t think that the Nuggets would be able to dethrone the champs without its second-best player on the roster.

It’s a shame that we won’t get to see this version of the Nuggets fully healthy because they’ve been playing at such a high level since the acquisition of Aaron Gordon at the NBA trade deadline.

This could end up being one of the biggest “what if” seasons in recent NBA history. The Nuggets were trending in such a right direction before Murray’s injury.