2. Denver Nuggets
Key offseason move: Lost Bruce Brown, Jeff Green
The Denver Nuggets will be one of the favorites to win the 2023 NBA Championship. However, I don’t believe they’ll be the people’s overwhelming favorites to repeat. Two key losses that the team will have to overcome are the departures of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. Both left to seek bigger paydays in free agency and while they won’t be completely irreplaceable for the Nuggets, they could run into some trouble in finding day 1 contributors to fill their roles.
But the Nuggets will still be really good as long as Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon remain healthy. Looking at the West, it’s hard to be completely confident in any other team being consistent enough to win the title. The Nuggets have proven they can do that and there’s no reason to be second-guessing this team anymore.
It won’t be an easy path for the Nuggets, but you’d have to imagine that there’s a good chance that Denver, at the very least, makes a deep run in the Western Conference. I’m not entirely sure if they make it back to the NBA Finals, but they’ll have a great shot to do so.