Only one game into the season, the arduous but invigorating obstacle imposed by the next 81 was already on Michael Porter Jr.’s mind.
The Nuggets had just taken care of the Lakers by double digits on opening night. When asked about Los Angeles, Porter’s mind drifted a bit, and he repeated a point he made at preseason media day.
“I think the West is so crazy this season,” he said. “Thatap why we had such an emphasis on starting strong. Because from top to bottom, the West is unbelievable.”
Another incentive for the defending champions to start strong? Another championship, of course. When the Nuggets host the Mavericks next Friday (8 p.m., ESPN), that and six other games will mark the beginning of the . A champ will be crowned Dec. 9 in Vegas, but first comes a group stage that will take place throughout the course of November and count toward teams’ regular-season records. Think Maui Invitational, but spanning weeks and multiple locations.
The league’s goal for the event is to ratchet up competitive intrigue (and TV ratings) early in the season, after years of struggling to generate a sense of stakes before April.
As Porter observed, the West is wild once again. Easily the deeper conference, there are rosters with premier talent that could miss the postseason entirely.
“I mean, I was just thinking about all the teams,” Porter told The Post in the locker room Tuesday. “You’ve got us, you’ve got the Lakers, Phoenix, Golden State. But then there are teams like Minnesota. You’ve got Memphis, Sacramento. We know every game’s going to be a dogfight, and we just know we’ve gotta stay at it. I don’t think I even mentioned Dallas. And then even teams like the Rockets, now, have pieces.”
Two of the teams he almost forgot, and two that he didn’t happen to name, are Denver’s group-mates in the upcoming tournament. In fact, Group West B might represent the perfect encapsulation of Porter’s larger point. Nobody other than Denver in West B is widely considered a top-tier contender. But three of the five teams are loose cannons that will be defined by the health or dependability of their star players.
The Mavericks missed the Play-In last season after assembling a Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving duo at the deadline then promptly finishing on a 9-18 stretch. and are reasons to question how stable the foundation is, but Dallas’ talent is undeniable. The Pelicans have just as much potential; they were neck-and-neck with Denver atop the West last New Year’s Eve. But for years, they have lived and mostly died by the health of Zion Williamson. He missed the second half of the season, Brandon Ingram suffered a toe injury and New Orleans fell to the No. 9 seed. Then there are the Clippers, perpetually bound to the health of two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, who played in 49% of his teams’ regular-season games over the last six seasons entering 2023-24.
The winner of each group advances to the quarterfinals, along with two second-place teams based on a . Here are the group matchups.
Mavericks: 8 p.m. Nov. 3, Ball Arena
After an outstanding World Cup this summer, Doncic appears to be in MVP form despite a sore calf that he’s been dealing with since the Mavs’ preseason trip to Madrid. But the success of rookie center Dereck Lively II might be an even more fascinating development from the first week of the season. In his debut, Dallas’ No. 12 draft pick came off the bench and out-shined Victor Wembanyama most of the night. Lively seems destined to start eventually, but for now he’s a 7-foot-1 matchup problem for Nuggets backup center Zeke Nnaji.
Clippers: 8 p.m. Nov. 14, Ball Arena
Since Dec. 10, 2022, the Nuggets are 35-3 in home games when Nikola Jokic plays. Last time the Clippers visited Ball Arena in February, they were at least able to take Denver to overtime, with Leonard and Paul George combining for 56 points. It took a 40-point triple-double from Jokic for the Nuggets to escape. Long-term durability be darned, all that matters right now is that Leonard and George are healthy and clicking so far this season. Off the bench, Bones Hyland showed in the preseason that he also has some extra juice saved for the Nuggets.
Pelicans: 6 p.m. Nov. 17, Smoothie King Center
Like Los Angeles, New Orleans has its two best players healthy for the start of the season, an achievement in itself. Next for the Pelicans is diversifying their game. Extremely reliant on scoring in the paint last season, they’ve placed an emphasis on creating more perimeter looks to rise from 29th in the NBA in 3-point attempts. If they start the year efficiently beyond the arc, it’ll become even harder for Denver to defend a downhill-attacking Williamson.
Rockets: 6 p.m. Nov. 24, Toyota Center
The Rockets are the weakest team in the group, but as Porter says, they “have pieces.” Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks were the offseason additions for a team trying to rebuild around recent top-four picks Jalen Green, Jabari Smith and Amen Thompson. Rookie Cam Whitmore won Summer League MVP, Smith made improvements toward the end of last season and Ime Udoka took over the coaching reins, all reasons to believe Houston could make a jump from last season’s win total of 22 — even if the playoffs remain distant.
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