But in Denver specifically, three roster spots remain vacant, and the specter of the second apron looms over the 12 spots that are occupied. Around the league, too, at least one major variable hasn’t been sorted out yet. Even commissioner Adam Silver joked about it during an event Thursday, acknowledging that “where LeBron plays will affect the schedule. I’d like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule.”

And NBA beat writers around the country would like the teams they cover to get their business done already so everyone can leave on pre-planned vacations without needing to sweat.

This Nuggets beat writer will be doing just that, starting this weekend. So it seemed like a fun time to pretend the offseason is over, power-rank both conferences based on what’s happened so far, and then possibly return to this and laugh at it later. Where will James sign? Will the Nuggets make a trade? Will the Kawhi Leonard trade between the Clippers and Raptors go through or be revoked? Will restricted free agents like Jalen Duren, Peyton Watson, and Bennedict Mathurin reach agreements with their teams?

The idea of this list is to predict the final regular-season standings for the 2026-27 season — not to evaluate playoff or championship capability. Included in parentheses will be each team’s place last season.

Western Conference

This exercise should pretty quickly illuminate that, for the first time in years, the West is the weaker overall conference. That’s despite the fact that five of the top seven or eight players in the world reside on this side of the country. It certainly remains the top-heavy conference, carried by the two championship favorites. But after those two? A weird landscape, with strong potential for the same six playoff locks as last year.

1. San Antonio Spurs (2nd): Wemby has tasted the Finals, and they left behind a sour flavor. His first career MVP trophy feels imminent if he can play the requisite games. Tobias Harris was a solid free-agency addition, addressing a clear need. The West champs just got a little deeper.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (1st): And the runners-up just got a little shallower. OKC’s summer has been highlighted by a pair of salary dumps from the back end of the roster. Without Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, Sam Presti is leaning on his draft acumen to fill the gaps. He added Aday Mara to a loaded center depth chart and Bennett Stirtz to a formidable ball-handling hierarchy that already features SGA, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves (6th): Tim Connelly wasted no time breaking up the Julius Randle-Rudy Gobert frontcourt once he decided it had reached its ceiling. Trading for LaMelo Ball was the risk of the offseason in the West, but the carnivalesque point guard does raise that ceiling. Analytically (ducks), he’s one of the league’s best at elevating entire lineups. He and Ant-Man will be must-see TV.

4. Denver Nuggets (3rd): The Nuggets haven’t earned any benefit of the doubt against Minnesota specifically, so they’re sliding to fourth on this list via a forecasted head-to-head tiebreaker going against them. Their offseason may or may not have a few plot twists yet to come. Whatever happens, a healthy Nikola Jokic gives Denver one of the highest regular-season floors in the NBA.

5. Houston Rockets (5th): Their 2025-26 season was sort of a disaster, but the Rockets never really got a chance to see the team they had envisioned when they traded for Kevin Durant. Season-ending injuries to point guard Fred VanVleet and center Steven Adams took away massive parts of their identity. This is a sensible run-it-back team, especially if Reed Sheppard keeps developing and Ime Udoka learns to trust him more.

6. Los Angeles Lakers (4th): The only team you can definitively say will not be getting LeBron James. Nobody attempted a more dramatic supporting cast makeover this offseason. And the Lakers might not be better for it — even if they’re theoretically better designed in Luka Doncic’s image.

7. Portland Trail Blazers (7th): Damian Lillard and Ja Morant would’ve been the most fun backcourt in the league in 2023. In 2026, their partnership is the most questionable aspect of Portland’s starting lineup. Still, this is a deep roster with several enviable contracts and a few different guard combinations to try if Dame and Ja cause too many defensive headaches.

8. Utah Jazz (15th): Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Walker Kessler were going to form one of the most fascinating frontcourts to watch in the entire league. Alas, Utah made a disciplined business decision to trade Kessler to Los Angeles. It was never meant to be. Jusuf Nurkic slots in as the starting center now. Not as fun. But the Jazz won’t be a walkover anymore. All eyes are on No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson.

9. Dallas Mavericks (12th): Cooper Flagg will have Dallas back in the playoff picture by the end of his rookie contract.

10. Golden State Warriors (10th): For those 24 glorious hours when everyone thought they were getting Anthony Davis and LeBron, the Warriors were maybe on the verge of top-six status.

11. Memphis Grizzlies (13th): The post-Ja era begins with an exciting trio of young talents in Cam Boozer, Zach Edey and Cedric Coward.

12. Phoenix Suns (8th): One of the pleasant surprises of last season is due for a step back. Who doesn’t want to watch Jalen Green and Miles Bridges trade shots?

13. Los Angeles Clippers (9th): The NBA’s longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons (15) should finally come to an end as the Clippers enter rebuild mode with a core of Darius Garland, rookie Keaton Wagler, Rui Hachimura and Brandon Ingram (pending that pesky Kawhi probe).

14. New Orleans Pelicans (11th): Maybe someday, the Pelicans will actually pull the trigger on a Trey Murphy III trade. He would be fun to watch on a relevant team.

15. Sacramento Kings (14th): Not much to say here, except that Darius Acuff Jr. might be a lot of fun.

Eastern Conference

Now, to the good stuff. The 2026-27 Eastern Conference has a chance to be one of the most fun regular-season playoff races in NBA history. Almost everyone is trying to win. Quite a few teams with high hopes will end up bitterly disappointed. First place and last place are the only two spots on this list that feel somewhat certain. The rest is a complete mess, in the best possible way.

1. New York Knicks (3rd): Mitchell Robinson’s departure sort of resembles Denver’s loss of Bruce Brown after winning the title. But when your championship tax is a bench player, your window is still wide open. The Knicks return a starting five that just posted a 12.5 playoff net rating.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers (2nd): This is without knowing if they’ll acquire a certain someone in free agency. Cleveland still has a strong infrastructure, even after that Eastern Conference Finals embarrassment. If Evan Mobley has another offensive leap in him, that could level the playing field with New York as much as LeBron could.

3. Philadelphia 76ers (7th): Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Jaylen Brown should provide enough firepower to carry the Sixers to a strong regular season even when Joel Embiid’s frequent injury absences are accounted for — even if there might not be enough collective durability to survive a two-month playoff run.

4. Indiana Pacers (14th): Maybe it’s unfair to Tyrese Haliburton to expect him to instantly relaunch this team to home-court advantage in the first round, when he’s fresh off not only a torn Achilles tendon but also a debilitating case of shingles. But whatever. The Pacers should be legit. Ivica Zubac and Kelly Oubre Jr. are interesting wrinkles from the 2025 Finals team.

5. Toronto Raptors (5th): That’s assuming that Kawhi Leonard is allowed to be a Toronto Raptor. With the blockbuster trade delayed as the NBA finishes its investigation of the Clippers for possible cap circumvention, Toronto is a contender in a holding pattern.

6. Boston Celtics (2nd): There’s a fair argument that even after the controversial Jaylen Brown trade, Boston’s 2026-27 rotation is better on paper than the 2025-26 roster that upended all expectations by earning the No. 2 seed. That Jayson Tatum, fully recovered now, is a better player than Brown, filling Brown’s shoes. That center Mitchell Robinson, when healthy, is an upgrade from Neemias Queta, who simply slides down the depth chart. That Paul George, for all the criticism his contract takes, is a vast improvement from starting Sam Hauser or Jordan Walsh. Nonetheless, the Celtics messed with their karmic balance by trading Brown for so little.

7. Detroit Pistons (1st): It wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Pistons have a late-summer move up their sleeve. Without one, their idleness sure looks like complacency. Detroit played hard enough to overcome its roster flaws and become an elite regular-season team last year. The East won’t be so forgiving this time around.

8. Orlando Magic (8th): The biggest change Orlando has made? Firing Jamahl Mosley and hiring Sean Sweeney. Maybe the cultural reset can yield results more on par with last year’s expectations, when the Magic entered the season as a top-three contender in the East. Or maybe its problems run a little deeper. This will be a consequential season in Orlando.

9. Miami Heat (9th): But Giannis! The Heat will have one of the most physically imposing front lines in the NBA with Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins. Maybe this placement is disrespectful toward Antetokounmpo, who’s more than capable of carrying a team to unexpected heights. But Miami’s roster still has a lot of question marks.

10. Atlanta Hawks (6th): In the absence of a significant move to upgrade their roster, the Hawks seem like they could be a victim of the conference getting better around them. They were an admirable No. 6 seed last season, taking a 2-1 series lead on the eventual champs in the first round. The roster’s ceiling just isn’t high enough with CJ McCollum, Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker as the primary scoring threats.

11. Charlotte Hornets (9th): Pre-LaMelo trade, the Hornets would’ve been a trendy top-six pick. Now, they seem willing to dawdle around the back end of the Play-In Tournament for a little bit longer. Another team with a lot of like about it, but ultimately not enough shot creation.

12. Washington Wizards (15th): If Anthony Davis and Trae Young are healthy and bought in, there’s no reason the Wizards can’t be a Play-In team in AJ Dybantsa’s rookie campaign.

13. Brooklyn Nets (13th): Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle. League Pass darlings. The Nets won’t be good, but even they should be incentivized to try to win games, since they don’t have their own 2027 first-round pick.

14. Chicago Bulls (12th): No. 4 draft pick Caleb Wilson has been talking the talk at Summer League. It would be great news for the NBA if he can walk the walk and put Chicago back on the map.

15.ĚýMilwaukee Bucks (11th): Worst team in the league, suddenly, and it might not be close.

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Winners: Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors

Let’s start with the blockbusters. The depth of the Eastern Conference is going to be harrowing next season, and two teams have gotten meaningfully better in the past few days. One came completely out of nowhere. The 76ers were forgotten. Not only had they not been linked to Jaylen Brown before they acquired him from their rival, but they had also been widely regarded as perhaps the least interesting team of the offseason. They were basically stuck with the same roster core that got swept by New York in the second round — two of the most burdensome, seemingly untradeable contracts in the NBA (Joel Embiid and Paul George), and two of the most electrifying, untouchable young guards in the league (Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe). At both ends of the spectrum of trade potential, zero maneuverability.

Then the Celtics came along. They were floating Brown to anyone willing to listen (including Denver). — the 36-year-old George, two first-round picks and two second-rounders — was an astonishing package that revealed Boston’s desperation and Brown’s sparse market. It was understood that Philadelphia would need to attach at least one first-round pick, probably more, to get off George’s contract. If that accounts for the two first-rounders in the deal, then the 76ers essentially got Brown for nothing.

Whatever the analytics community thinks of his value as a supermax player, one thing Brown does is play. He’s been available for 82% of regular-season games in the past five years and hasn’t missed a playoff game during that time. The 76ers just got a durable Finals MVP who’s seven years younger than the aging star they sacrificed. They have a team that should win a lot of games next season, even if Embiid is in and out of the lineup.

Toronto’s trade to reunite with Kawhi Leonard was likewise an absolute home run. Leonard does have his injury demons, but he’s such a perfect fit with the Raptors’ current roster that he’s well worth the risk (Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two firsts, two seconds). An emotionally satisfying trade for the city, and one with legitimate upside. Leonard and Scottie Barnes will be fun to watch.

Losers: Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks

The biggest trade of the offseason has turned out to be one of the most underwhelming. The Bucks were obviously going to be losers no matter what they got back for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Tough to feel excited about three first-round picks right after you’re forced to trade a franchise icon.

Miami, meanwhile, gave up a lot of young role players and walked away with a pretty stripped-down roster that … doesn’t seem that much better than the Milwaukee team Antetokounmpo is leaving?

Certainly, if LeBron James jumps on board, the 2026-27 iteration of the Heat will suddenly look more compelling. But this looks like an incomplete team right now, especially after losing free agent deadeye Norman Powell to Chicago. Pat Riley’s vision for the Giannis era probably involves multiple transaction cycles. Every trade deadline and offseason going forward is an opportunity to keep building out the supporting cast.

And even when that vision starts to come into everyone else’s view, there’s the question of whether Giannis and Bam Adebayo can fit together as a pair of non-shooting bigs in the modern game.

Miami can’t be called an outright loser after acquiring a top-five player in the league. But it’s not an immediate championship contender either.

Winner: The whiteboard and someone on it

Wearing a Wimbledon bucket hat, superagent Rich Paul went on his podcast Friday, rolled out a whiteboard and provided a literal illustration of his client LeBron James’ free agency options, including the perks of various potential destinations. (Steph Curry? Oil? Golf? Africa?)

As a piece of NBA content: 10 out of 10, no notes.

The whiteboard is an instant classic meme that will live on in the social media era of basketball fandom. And one of the 10 teams listed on it will eventually be rewarded with arguably the most valuable bargain in the history of NBA free agency. Depending on who you ask, James is still generally considered a top-20 or top-30 player in the league, even at 41 years old. He’s very likely to sign for less than $20 million (maybe even for the veteran minimum salary) to play with a contender.

From a basketball standpoint alone, it will be a staggeringly team-friendly deal. That’s before considering the merchandise and ticket sales, especially if James announces that his 24th season will be his last.

Someone will win big. In the meantime, James and Paul can relish being the center of attention in an NBA offseason, one last time, for old time’s sake.

Loser: Buyers being sellers

At the trade deadline in February, we wrote that one of the big winners was the trend of “sellers being buyers.” Tanking teams like Washington, Utah and Indiana collected win-now talent to stash for the next season. Now the Wizards can unleash Anthony Davis and Trae Young alongside No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa and recent No. 2 pick Alex Sarr. The Jazz will play a starting lineup with Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen and newly drafted Darryn Peterson. The Pacers, even after losing their pick to lousy lottery luck, will add Ivica Zubac to a core that reached Game 7 of the Finals a year ago.

We’re seeing the inverse of that strategy from multiple would-be contenders this summer.

Boston’s decision to trade Brown was jarring in large part because it signaled a willingness to take a step back next season. Brown and Jayson Tatum never ended up getting a chance to play to the final buzzer of a season together after they won the championship. Tatum was out for the end of the 2025 New York series and the 2026 Philly one. Who’s to say they couldn’t have won the title in 2027 with Tatum fully recovered from his torn Achilles?

Equally fascinating is Charlotte’s decision to sell high on LaMelo Ball after the best season of his career — and his first with 50 or more games played since 2021-22. We’re not too far removed from Ball being perceived as a losing player with negative trade value. The Hornets jumped at an opportunity to get back a starter-level role player (Naz Reid), a first-rounder, three first-round swaps and three second-rounders for him. That could very well prove to be a shrewd if cold-hearted decision.

But for us neutrals, it’s a shame that nobody will ever know what would’ve happened had Charlotte decided to run it back with a starting lineup that posted a league-best 25.7 net rating from Jan. 1 through the end of last season. Ball was the engine of that offense, a brilliant playmaker with positional size and a talent for making his teammates better (when he wasn’t launching one-legged logo 3s early in the shot clock).

Just one scribe’s hunch: The Hornets will miss him. They have an abundance of shooting but not much shot creation, especially after flipping Miles Bridges for Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen. That trade was another savvy bit of business by a front office that seems to know what it’s doing. Still, it indicates an organizational willingness to temporarily regress — and a belief that last season wasn’t real.

This approach could become more common. Trades and extensions are the new free agency in the current CBA landscape. When playoff teams get antsy under pressure to offer long-term max extensions to second-tier stars, they might simply opt to trade those players. Get something back while you can; make the contract negotiation someone else’s problem. The difference in the two situations this summer? One team sold high; another team miscalculated and thought it was.

Winner: Walker Kessler

The biggest individual winner of the offseason, and it’s not particularly close. Nothing about Kessler’s situation said “four years, $130 million, player option.” He was a restricted free agent coming off a season-ending injury. He played five games for Utah last year.

But the Lakers had cap space, and Luka Doncic wanted them to get him a shot-blocking, rim-running center to catch his alley-oops. That manufactured leverage for Kessler, who ended up in Hollywood via sign-and-trade. The Jazz made the most of it, getting back two first-round picks and two swaps — basically an added payment from Los Angeles to guarantee safe delivery of the asset, rather than dealing with the risk and suspense of an offer sheet.

Think about what those picks say: Kessler (at $32 million per year) was deemed more valuable than Jaylen Brown (at $60 million) this week. It’s an incredible career move for the 7-footer, who got paid handsomely — maybe even overpaid — and should automatically look good playing with Doncic.

An admittedly biased take from someone who covered Kessler in college: That contract isn’t as much of a reach as most NBA observers have labeled it. His job next to Luka will be simplified — roll, catch, finish — and he’s got a burgeoning jump shot that could diversify what the Lakers are able to do with him. Defensively, he’s already one of the best rim protectors in the game. (I should know. I’ve tried to score on him.)

The Lakers will attract a range of opinions for the next three months. They’ve used their cap space to overhaul their team around Doncic and Austin Reaves, despite the fact that they seemed content to move on from arguably the best player in this free agency class. Can the combination of Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton raise this team’s ceiling? Or will Los Angeles remain a clear level below OKC and San Antonio?

Loser: Julius Randle (and Tim Connelly if this doesn’t work)

The way this turned out for Randle in Minnesota is pretty tough. Two years after the Knicks traded him for Karl-Anthony Towns, he watched his former team end a 53-year championship drought, then immediately got traded — not just traded, but salary-dumped — to the other team in New York that might as well not exist compared to the Knicks. He’ll get to experience the city’s joy during their victory lap next season. He just won’t get to take part in it.

Randle was excellent for the Timberwolves in the 2025 playoffs. Not so much in 2026. Getting rid of him was the means by which Minnesota acquired Ball. It was also Connelly’s way of admitting that he lost the KAT trade.

The Wolves had clearly reached their ceiling with a Randle-Rudy Gobert frontcourt, getting crushed in the Western Conference Finals two consecutive years. They felt like they had no choice but to pivot. Now they’re pretty much out of draft capital and out of methods to improve their roster around Anthony Edwards if the Ball experiment crashes and burns. No pressure.

Under-the-radar winner: Chicago Bulls. They’re under new front office management, and it shows. With a new lottery system that “relegates” the odds of the worst teams, they can’t be excessively bad next season. But they’re not trying to be a true playoff contender, either. Enter Norman Powell and Nic Claxton, two solid players on good contracts to help Chicago have an identity in the first year of Caleb Wilson’s career. Poaching coach Tiago Splitter from Portland was a nice touch. Nothing extravagant this summer, but smart moves and a sense of direction.

Under-the-radar loser: Detroit Pistons. Until further notice. Patience at the trade deadline last season was one thing. The No. 1 seed in the East was comfortable with the likelihood that its flaws would be exposed in the playoffs. They were. So now … still nothing. Running it back with Jalen Duren on a more expensive contract and swapping out Tobias Harris for John Collins isn’t going to cut it. The East will be too good. It’s time for the Pistons to go get a secondary scorer.

That would be Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, who has emerged as a trade candidate over the last week since Boston’s unsuccessful attempt to offer him to Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo. The Bucks ultimately chose Miami’s more robust package, leaving Boston with an awkward dilemma.

Brown led the Celtics to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the East while co-star Jayson Tatum was rehabbing from an Achilles injury last season, only for them to lose in the first round of the playoffs to seventh-seeded Philadelphia. The disappointing result had already sparked a wave of uncertainty about the future of Boston’s core — a situation reminiscent of the Nuggets’ crossroads after their own shocking first-round exit.

Both teams rode their star duos to championships this decade, and both have regressed in the years since.

The Nuggets have registered mild interest in Brown, having internally discussed whether they would have a realistic chance to acquire the All-NBA swingman if they were to actively pursue him, as NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer first reported over the weekend.

But all indications, for now at least, are that no such pursuit is likely to occur. Multiple team sources relayed early this week that their reported interest in Brown has been overstated. And two other league sources who spoke to The Denver Post were highly skeptical that the Nuggets would be able to complete a deal for the 2024 Finals MVP. Boston reportedly wants up to four first-round draft picks for Brown. While that’s widely viewed as an unreasonable asking price — Milwaukee got three back in the Antetokounmpo deal — the Nuggets don’t have first-rounders available to trade.

Lead executives Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer made it a priority to replenish their depleted asset pool when they traded out of the first round of the NBA Draft last week. Where does that leave them? With three second-round picks once the new league year begins in July, plus .

That’s all to say that Brown’s market would need to continue to dry up, or Boston’s priorities would need to shift away from a picks-based package, for the Nuggets to truly have a chance to pounce. Even then, there’s no certainty they would make an aggressive push.

What would a trade look like?

Even if nothing comes of the recent smoke, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Denver has contemplated a player of Brown’s pedigree. When a sixth-place MVP finisher becomes available, it’s due diligence. Kevin Durant was discussed internally last year before Phoenix traded him to Houston, team sources told The Post at the time.

So what would a Nuggets package look like? And would Brown meaningfully improve their roster? If these questions are worth exploring inside the front office, then they certainly are outside the walls of Ball Arena as well, as Brown represents the most dramatic roster-building avenue hypothetically available to the Nuggets at this point.

As The Post reported in April, Cam Johnson has long been considered the most likely Nuggets starter to be traded this offseason due to his expiring contract, though multiple key players could be on the move this week. Johnson and Christian Braun have been the front office’s primary focus amid efforts to reconfigure Nikola Jokic’s supporting cast — and shed enough salary to ward off Peyton Watson’s suitors in restricted free agency.

The Nuggets have been far more reluctant to include franchise cornerstones Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray in trade conversations, league and team sources have told The Post — ready to listen, not so much to shop them, . But there have also been plenty of murmurs around the league speculating about Denver’s willingness to consider a large-scale roster overhaul.

Brown is on a supermax contract, with a $57.1 million cap hit next season that makes him the seventh-highest-paid player in the league. The Nuggets could aggregate several smaller contracts to match salary in theory, but if they acquired Brown without including Jamal Murray in the outgoing package, they would have three players occupying 100.7% of the salary cap — $166.2 million in combined 2026-27 salary.

Just one month ago, team president Josh Kroenke was reflecting on Denver’s rationale for trading Michael Porter Jr. when he said: “We had to take a hard look at where we had committed ourselves from a salary standpoint, and understanding that having three max players was probably not something that was gonna be continuous for us going forward. … That was something we felt the organization needed to do to maintain a roster going forward, to establish more depth.”

Consider it unlikely, then, that Denver would trade for Brown without Murray’s $50.1 million salary going the other direction. Building out a deep rotation would become immensely challenging, even if Wallace and Tenzer get a green light from ownership to spend over the $199 million luxury tax line.

This leads to the delicate dynamic of a trade rumor like this: Murray. He’s an all-time Denver sports great, a surly but selfless star who speaks lovingly of his basketball bond with Jokic. He helped the Nuggets win their first championship. They would never take the possibility of trading him lightly, and the last thing they want to do is make the same mistake Boston just made with Brown — alienating a longtime star by offering him in a trade and failing to complete the deal.

If the Nuggets ever have plans of escalating trade talks involving Murray, they must be careful not to misread the situation.

Would the Celtics bite at the opportunity to upgrade their backcourt with a newly minted All-NBA point guard? Keeping in mind that Denver ideally wants to shed salary, there would probably need to be supplementary pieces involved, likely hard-capping both teams at the second apron.

For example, Murray and Johnson for Brown and a cheap role player of the Nuggets’ choosing — let’s just say Baylor Scheierman — would be allowed under the league’s trade rules, netting a $13.3 million salary reduction for Denver. Murray and Gordon for Brown and Sam Hauser would result in a $14.2 million reduction.

Obviously, if this is a two-team hypothetical trade, Boston would have to be comfortable with eschewing first-round draft compensation in order to land a player of Murray’s caliber.

It would obviously be a bold move from both sides, a swap of home-grown stars signaling belief that both the Jokic-Murray and Tatum-Brown partnerships have gone stale.

Murray and Brown are a strangely fitting trade match, in many ways. They’re three months apart in age, so neither team would be disadvantaged in that regard. They were drafted four picks apart in 2016 — Brown third overall, Murray seventh. They’ve enjoyed arguably the two best pro careers in that class. They both have three years remaining on their current contracts, with no player or team options.

For Boston, it would be a different look for Tatum: a skilled guard who initiate the offense and create, who can play off the ball and hit 3s at a blistering rate, who’s unusually accustomed to screening for a bigger ball-handler in inverted pick-and-rolls. The Celtics love to play the math game. Murray was the most efficient high-volume 3-point shooter in the sport last season, 43.5% on 7.5 attempts per game.

Then again, there’s this recent quote from Celtics president of basketball ops Brad Stevens: “One of the things that we’ve gotta figure out is how to have more of an impact at the rim, and I think we do need to add to our team to do that.” That’s as much of a sign as any from Denver that this (hypothetical!) trade probably doesn’t have legs.

For the Nuggets, it would be a sacrifice of unparalleled pick-and-roll chemistry in exchange for a secondary star who can defend at a way higher level than Murray. (Brown proudly touts himself as the best two-way player in the league right now.) For years, the Nuggets have had to contend with opponents’ desire to put their two best players in every action. Jokic and Murray have dazzled offensively and stumbled around in the dark defensively. Brown was responsible for guarding Luka Doncic in the NBA Finals two years ago. He has switchable size and a chip on his shoulder to uphold his self-appointed label.

It would be a fascinating stylistic experiment. Brown’s playmaking ability has improved over the years, but his instinct is generally to use a ball screen to hunt a mismatch in isolation, as opposed to Murray’s bob-and-weave deployment of Jokic in the two-man game. The Nuggets would also desperately need to make other moves to find a new point guard; one league source doubted that a Jokic-Brown-Gordon frontcourt would mesh well without a table-setter.

Brown’s shot selection was more midrange-heavy than Murray’s last season, with 23.7% of his total field goal attempts classified as midrange by NBA tracking data. He’s a bona fide tough shot maker, but the burden of efficiency is heavy when taking what’s considered a low-percentage shot. Murray took 19.6% of his shots from that range last season, as the Nuggets were encouraged by his uptick in 3-point attempts.

Brown’s shot selection was also more paint-heavy — 50.1% of his attempts were in the lane and 22.4% were in the restricted area, compared to 39% and 17.1% for Murray. The Nuggets know they need more rim pressure off the dribble. Murray is a more skilled ball-handler than Brown, but Brown uses athleticism and physicality better to get downhill.

Jokic’s ability to draw double-teams — and his eagerness to pass out of them — would open up a lot of driving angles and attacking opportunities for Brown, who has a strong appetite for the ball. In Denver, he would be a clearer No. 2 on the roster hierarchy than he was before, but he’d be playing alongside a primary option whose first instinct would be to help him score a ton of points.

The list of pros and cons goes on from there. Brown gets to the foul line at a better frequency than Murray. Murray has a higher assist rate and lower turnover rate than Brown. Brown has proven he’s a winning player, given that his crowning achievement was a playoff trophy — but there’s also that whole pesky war on analytics that he’s been waging online. Should Denver be concerned that Boston routinely has a better net rating when he isn’t on the floor? Or that Brown has been so easily provoked by such an obviously silly discourse? (This all started with a quote that the entire basketball community knows is ridiculous, suggesting Brown is the seventh-best player on a team.)

In Murray, the Nuggets have a known entity on the court and a buy-in they trust behind the scenes. The risk factor in trading him would be considerable. The ripple effects on Denver’s roster and system would be substantial.

It would be an arrangement born of two teams in a similar predicament, trying to figure out which cards to play next in an era of parity that¶¶Ňőap threatening to leave them in the dust.

Or maybe this is nothing, and one of the longest-standing active tandems in the NBA will live to fight another day together. Even if Boston’s doesn’t.

Late bloomer to Hall of Famer at Legend High School, first-ever All-American at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CU star, NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist.

We don’t deserve him. But Tad Boyle does. And so does CU hoops.

Wednesday, in a packed press conference of former and current players and boosters, CU athletic director Fernando Lovo introduced White as president of basketball strategy and revealed his $2 million donation to the program.

White will continue his career as a star for the Boston Celtics. His side gig will be to serve as a phone-call-away resource. His involvement is designed to inspire fundraising that keeps the Buffs competitive with its Big 12 peers, save for Texas Tech, whose resident billionaire Cody Campbell uses $100 bills as coasters.

“Obviously, it’s not all about money, but it is a lot about money in this day and age,” said White, a nine-year NBA veteran and three-time All-NBA defender over the past four seasons. “There are not many rules and regulations around it. It¶¶Ňőap kind of like two different games. The top of the Big 12 and where we are at. And hopefully we can trend in the right direction.”

Now, before you get too excited, you need to understand something. CU hoops does not have a big booster to match White’s donation.

Truthfully, White riding in on the white buffalo might not translate into immediate success.

But, it gives Boyle a puncher’s chance, provides context for why his record over the past two seasons is not a failure. Boyle is a tremendous teacher. He has guided CU to the NCAA tournament six times in 16 seasons, but the end of his career does not require squinting.

Boyle fought back tears in the Dal Ward Center, explaining that CU remains his “dream job.” He is the top coach in school history, and it is not particularly close.

The best ones burn hot and bright. Watch Boyle on the sideline or at the podium, and his passion defines him.

But how is he expected to survive as a developmental stop for deep-pocketed counterparts?

I told Boyle I thought he might finish his career in Division III away from the NIL madness, where he could coach without wondering which booster would suddenly turn into a human ATM.

“Nope, this is where I want to be until it ends,” said Boyle, who admitted there will be a time he hands off the program and that White will be part of that transition to select his successor.

If not a life raft, White provides hope, a reminder of what makes Boyle special, and by proxy, CU.

“This is such a great opportunity to do something meaningful,” White said.

Boyle has no problem unearthing talent. Retention is the problem. CU has lost an average of five players to the portal over the past four seasons.

The inflation costs of keeping players have become staggering. Paydays are not public, but CU star freshman Isaiah Johnson defected to Texas this offseason. The going rate for point guards in the portal was $3 million and up, per The Field of 68.

As a forward, promising Bangot Dak was in line for around $2 million when he committed to Vanderbilt in April.  A few years ago CU was able to keep Tristan da Silva for five figures.

A clank used to be a coach’s worst nightmare. Now, it’s a cha-ching.

“College athletics are a little messed up,” Boyle said.

But he is not ready to throw his hands in the air. Boyle is a fighter.

He deserves better than to go out as a farm director for Power 4 bullies.

Why? He does things the right way and makes real connections.

If you don’t believe it, consider the alums who turned out for White’s private ceremony on Tuesday night in Denver. Spencer Dinwiddie, K.J. Simpson, Cory Higgins, and Alec Burks were just some of the roughly 20 former players in attendance.

“Tad is a historic coach. He gave us a place to learn and we have careers because of him,” Dinwiddie said. “With NIL now, it’s hard. Derrick’s donation is a big help. And we have to keep navigating it the best we can.”

White’s hiring was months in the making. Three specifically. That is when CU chose Fernando Lovo to lead its athletic department. He is an expert fundraiser, and brings the type of enthusiasm for all sports — not just the flailing football program — needed to make the fan base reach for its wallet.

Lovo made meeting White a priority. In April, he and Boyle flew to Boston for a Celtics game and an Italian dinner. Over food, the conversation broadened from White helping out hoops to something with roots.

White had talked with Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum about his involvement at Duke and was aware that Steph Curry (Davidson) and Trae Young (Oklahoma) held positions in the college ranks.

As Lovo and Boyle returned to Boulder, White was sold.

It was something he wanted to do — the idea of his kids growing up around the program was appealing. He also knew he would have the help of one-time CU teammate Josh Repine, “who will handle a lot of day-to-day stuff and is someone who loves this university as much as I do.”

Former Buffs’ fingerprints were all over this new arrangement, including those on Boyle’s staff, Nate Tomlinson and Evan Battey.

What makes this commitment fascinating is White’s limited time at CU. He played one season for Boyle after sitting out a year as a transfer.

“A little bit,” said Boyle when I was asked if he was surprised by White’s willingness to step into a prominent role. “But it shows what can happen when you try to treat people the right way and coach them well.”

White, who lives with his wife and kids in Colorado in the offseason, explained that his goal growing up was to play in the Coors Events Center. He figured he missed his chance when Legend High did not reach the state playoffs held there.

“So when I got the opportunity to go to CU, it was a dream come true. Like Fernando said, we wear Colorado across our chest here. That’s who I am and, to me, it represents the entire state,” White said. “This means a lot. I want to make it great, to be the best at this. ”

Wednesday, that seemed possible in a room full of smiles and tables full of cookies and brownies. It felt like a party.

Thursday will bring a harsh reality. The challenge in recruiting and retaining players.

Regardless, CU is in a better position because White is all in.

He is not the answer to all of CU’s issues, but he opens a pathway to solutions, a chance for Boyle to finish his coaching career without being consumed by which players are leaving.

“Once we get people in this building and in this program,” White said, “we need to make them realize they can reach their dreams here.”

With a Game 7 upset over top-seeded Oklahoma City, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs guaranteed that an eighth different team in as many years will be crowned champion of the NBA. Such variety seemed impossible as recently as 2018, when the Golden State Warriors were at the height of their reign and decades of history suggested the NBA would always be the American sports league most characterized by dynasties.

But with a collective bargaining agreement averse to super-teams, everything changed. New luxury tax thresholds were introduced, imposing punitive roster-building restrictions on big spenders, scaring teams away from keeping their championship cores intact. The second apron became the boogeyman to front offices. Unrestricted free agency has crept toward extinction. The art of roster architecture has been replaced by the tedium of money management in many cases.

The Nuggets have been profoundly impacted by a system designed to make it harder for them to win Nikola Jokic a second ring. Other repeat dreamers have been thwarted as well. Boston essentially salary-dumped multiple Finals starters last offseason. Even the indefatigable Thunder will face uncomfortable decisions this summer (and next) as its payroll spikes into the second apron.

Titles are not to be taken for granted anymore. One is the new two.

As the Spurs and Knicks tipped off their best-of-seven series this week, we endeavored to rank all 16 teams that have reached the NBA Finals (including them) during the eight-year era of parity, dating back to 2019. Thirteen different franchises have fielded a Finals team during that time, including seven different Western Conference champs in the last seven seasons.

Which one-hit wonders have stood out most in a decade defined by the elusiveness of sustained dominance?

1. Boston Celtics, 2024 

• Regular season: 64-18 (1st in East)
• Net rating: 11.7 (1st)
• Playoffs: 16-3
• Playoff net: 8.6

The only team on this list that won 60 or more regular-season games and never faced elimination in the playoffs. The Celtics are a fitting choice for the most dominant team of the parity era so far because they’re the rare case of an NBA champion without an inner circle Hall of Famer. Instead, they caught lightning in a bottle with a starting lineup featuring five All-Star-caliber two-way talents: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (the franchise cornerstones) were surrounded by Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder, 2025

• Regular season: 68-14 (1st in West)
• RS net rating: 12.7 (1st)
• Playoffs: 16-7
• Playoff net: 8.6

OKC has a fair case for the No. 1 spot, but nitpicking is the only way to differentiate between this team and Boston. The 2025 champs are docked a few brownie points only because they had to survive two home Game 7s against hobbled opponents. That doesn’t make the banner any less valid, but it does leave room to distinguish between their regular-season dominance and their ability to close out a playoff series. Still, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were brilliant throughout this run, and OKC’s depth (aided by a lopsided 2024 offseason trade for Alex Caruso) suffocated top-heavy teams like Denver.

3. Golden State Warriors, 2019

• Regular season: 57-25 (1st in West)
• RS net rating: 6.5 (2nd)
• Playoffs: 14-8
• Playoff net: 3.1

The most difficult team to place, for obvious reasons. Crushing injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson symbolically marked the end of Golden State’s dominion and the beginning of the post-dynasty NBA. But when the two-time defending champion Warriors were healthy, they were still, you know, arguably the greatest roster ever assembled. They still almost pushed Toronto to a Finals Game 7 even after Durant tore his Achilles and Thompson his ACL.

4. Denver Nuggets, 2023

• Regular season: 53-29 (1st in West)
• RS net rating: 3.3 (6th)
• Playoffs: 16-4
• Playoff net: 8.0

The Nuggets lack the eye-popping regular-season résumé of Boston or Oklahoma City, but they still controlled the No. 1 seed in their conference for the last four months of the season without dropping. More importantly, they proved their stature with the second-most dominant title run of the teams on this list, mowing through Anthony Edwards, Durant, Devin Booker, LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the West. Perhaps this will be the only year it all comes together in perfect harmony around Nikola Jokic, the most decorated player of the decade so far.

5. Los Angeles Lakers, 2020

• Regular season: 52-19 (1st in West)
• RS net rating: 5.6 (5th)
• Playoffs: 16-5
• Playoff net: 6.9

It’s hard to escape the skepticism that has greeted LeBron and the Lakers for years since they emerged from the bubble, where they won the pandemic championship in an empty gym. But make no mistake, this team was a wagon. Aside from James and Davis, Los Angeles had a stellar defensive supporting cast headlined by Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, both of whom went on to solidify their status as winning players with other champions higher on this list.

6. Toronto Raptors, 2019

• Regular season: 58-24 (2nd in East)
• Net rating: 5.8 (3rd)
• Playoffs: 16-8
• Playoff net: 5.6

One of the wildest playoff runs in league history, from Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce buzzer beater to win Game 7, to the 2-0 series comeback in the Eastern Conference Finals, to the upset of Curry’s injury-hampered Warriors. It was Leonard’s masterpiece, but the roster around him was deeper than it’s given credit for: Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Danny Green, OG Anunoby (until he missed the playoffs due to appendicitis), Norman Powell, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka each left their marks. A delightful team.

7. Milwaukee Bucks, 2021

• Regular season: 46-26 (3rd in East)
• Net rating: 5.8 (4th)
• Playoffs: 16-7
• Playoff net: 5.3

Sure, if Kevin Durant’s foot was behind the 3-point line, Milwaukee’s season would’ve technically ended in Game 7 of the second round. But every champion needs a little bit of luck. The Bucks just got slightly more than most. They also got an absolute tour de force of a playoff run from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 40 in that Game 7 against Brooklyn, then 50 in a Game 6 win over Phoenix to close out the best Finals of the decade so far. If the Giannis era is indeed about to end in Milwaukee, at least they’ll always have 2021, when the stars aligned for Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.

8. San Antonio Spurs, 2026*

• Regular season: 62-20 (2nd in West)
• Net rating: 8.4 (3rd)
• Playoffs: 12-7*
• Playoff net: 11.0*

They’re a few wins away from making eighth place look criminally low. For now, consider this one last gesture of trepidation toward a radically young team. By prevailing over Minnesota and OKC in back-to-back slugfests, the Spurs have shattered every precedent that experience is a non-negotiable playoff virtue. Victor Wembanyama is wise beyond his years, and Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper don’t seem to care that their combined age equals one LeBron.

9. New York Knicks, 2026*

• Regular season: 53-29 (3rd in East)
• Net rating: 6.4 (5th)
• Playoffs: 12-2*
• Playoff net: 19.8*

An 11-game win streak to bulldoze through the East playoffs forced NBA analysts to reconsider how good this Knicks team might actually be. If they can end Madison Square Garden’s title drought without needing a Game 7, they’ll join Denver and Boston as the only champions of the era to go 16-4 or better. Like the 2024 Celtics, they don’t depend on a bona fide all-time great (though Jalen Brunson will certainly achieve New York immortality if they finish this thing off). It’s the four-man core of Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges that has fueled this run, plus an unexpectedly free-wheeling use of the bench by first-year coach Mike Brown.

10. Golden State Warriors, 2022

• Regular season: 53-29 (3rd in West)
• Net rating: 5.5 (4th)
• Playoffs: 16-6
• Playoff net: 4.9

Of all the teams to raise a banner during this era, the Warriors probably had the flimsiest roster — the last remnants of their dynasty and some new friends they met along the way. That’s ultimately a credit to Curry, who averaged an efficient 31, six and five to knock off Boston. This championship is his greatest achievement. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green’s glory days were in the rearview mirror, Andrew Wiggins was the team’s second option, and Otto Porter Jr. started the last three games of the Finals.

11. Indiana Pacers, 2025

• Regular season: 50-32 (4th in East)
• Net rating: 2.1 (13th)
• Playoffs: 15-8
• Playoff net: 2.1

Basketball fans around the globe will never stop lamenting the timing of Tyrese Haliburton’s torn Achilles tendon, moments after an awe-inspiring barrage of deep 3s early in Game 7 of the Finals. Thanks in large part to their four ridiculous last-minute comebacks — one in each playoff round — the Pacers will go down in history as one of the most exciting teams that didn’t win the title.

12. Phoenix Suns, 2021

• Regular season: 51-21 (2nd in West)
• Net rating: 5.9 (3rd)
• Playoffs: 14-8
• Playoff net: 4.2

Up 2-0 on Milwaukee, then later down one point with the ball on the last possession of Game 5, Phoenix was as close to a ring as any Finals loser this century. Chris Paul and Devin Booker formed one of the best backcourts on this list. But 18 months later, the team was sold, and young role players Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson were shipped off to Brooklyn in the fateful Durant trade.

13. Boston Celtics, 2022

• Regular season: 51-31 (2nd in East)
• Net rating: 7.4 (2nd)
• Playoffs: 14-10
• Playoff net: 3.9

Playing in their fourth Eastern Conference Finals together, Tatum and Brown finally broke through. Also buoyed by Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, the Celtics survived Game 7s against Milwaukee and Miami to gain a 2-1 series edge over Golden State. Then they got fried by Curry.

14. Dallas Mavericks, 2024

• Regular season: 50-32 (5th in West)
• RS net rating: 2.1 (15th)
• Playoffs: 13-9
• Playoff net: 2.6

These regular-season numbers disguise a team that was altered at the trade deadline and dominated down the stretch. PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford were savvy acquisitions to assist Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on an impressive playoff run, highlighted by a six-game upset of the top-seeded Thunder. Little did Doncic know it would be his last chance in Dallas.

15. Miami Heat, 2020

• Regular season: 44-29 (5th in East)
• Net rating: 2.7 (7th)
• Playoffs: 14-7
• Playoff net: 1.9

Playoff risers in the bubble. An unimpeachable Jimmy Butler performance made the Finals look closer than they were, forcing Game 6 and delaying LeBron’s fourth title.

16. Miami Heat, 2023

• Regular season: 44-38 (7th in East)
• Net rating: -0.5 (21st)
• Playoffs: 13-10
• Playoff net: 1.9

Props to the Heat for milking everything it possibly could out of the Butler era. This is the only Play-In Tournament team to ever reach the Finals. Butler, Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra outdid themselves, needing only five games to upset the top-seeded Bucks in the first round.

Now that we recognize Murray, Gordon and small forward Cam Johnson are the main candidates the Nuggets could trade for reasonably positive value, their offseason predicament also raises questions about what type of return they could get for Murray or Gordon in particular. Both players are 29 or older, with unfortunate injury histories and long-term commitments remaining on their current contracts.

They’re also extraordinary players. Murray was (in the opinion of this All-NBA voter) comfortably one of the 10 best players in the league this regular season. Gordon is the epitome of an overused term that coaches love to preach: He is a star in his role, one of the most versatile forwards in the game when he’s on the court.

They both make sense as win-now pieces for teams looking to take an immediate next step toward contention. They probably don’t make sense for most teams residing at the bottom of the league. (Johnson, on the other hand, could be reasonably appealing on an expiring contract to the vast majority of teams.)

So who are the Nuggets’ most likely trade partners, if they do make dramatic changes? Keep in mind that lot of deals might have to involve three or more teams due to salary-matching complications, and Denver’s return on one of these players might not even come from the same team that’s on the receiving end of Murray or Gordon. In any case, here’s a speculative list of teams that could benefit from their skillsets, and some of the contracts those teams could offload. Consider it a place to start before you open up — but remember, part of the Nuggets’ goal will probably be to take back less salary than they send out.

Potential Jamal Murray trade partners

Houston Rockets: Man, does it look shaky when Kevin Durant has to initiate the offense out of a double-team at midcourt. The Rockets just went an entire year without a true point guard. Fred VanVleet is set to return from a torn ACL, but if they’re worried about the residual effects and want to explore potential upgrades, Murray would be an obvious fit. That is, unless 21-year-old Reed Sheppard actually turns into the second coming of Steve Nash on a timeline that fits with the 37-year-old Durant.

Trade candidates who could appeal to Nuggets (2026-27 salary): Fred VanVleet ($25 million, right to veto), Dorian Finney-Smith ($12.7 million), Clint Capela ($6.7 million), Tari Eason (RFA).

Toronto Raptors: As uncomfortable as it is to picture Murray in any other uniform, this is the only one that would feel somewhat right. He receives a warm welcome from Toronto’s fans every time the Nuggets play in his home province. The Raptors view Scottie Barnes as a superstar in the making, but he needs some offensive help after a first-round series in which his team struggled to score against Cleveland.

Trade candidates: Immanuel Quickley ($32.5 million), RJ Barrett ($29.6 million), Gradey Dick ($7.1 million), Ja’Kobe Walter ($3.8 million).

Atlanta Hawks: They have a stacked defensive backcourt between Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but their offense ran through CJ McCollum at the end of playoff games this year. Murray could make them a better half-court team, partnering with another elite facilitator in Jalen Johnson.

Trade candidates: CJ McCollum (UFA), Gabe Vincent (UFA), Jonathan Kuminga ($24.3 million, team option), Corey Kispert ($14 million), Zaccharie Risacher ($13.8 million), Buddy Hield ($9.7 million).

Orlando Magic: One of the most disappointing teams of 2025-26, Orlando is widely expected to try moving point guard Jalen Suggs this summer. The Magic might simply give the keys to Anthony Black if they feel content with the star power of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner on the wings. But even with that tandem and Desmond Bane, their offense hasn’t escaped the bottom half of the league in years. Purely in terms of basketball fit, Murray would make a ton of sense here. But one of the biggest obstacles would be that Orlando’s offseason motivations could also involve cost-cutting.

Trade candidates: Franz Wagner ($41.8 million), Jalen Suggs ($32.4 million), Jonathan Isaac ($14.5 million), Goga Bitadze ($7.6 million), Tristian da Silva ($4 million).

Boston Celtics: It’s difficult to imagine the Celtics going after someone with Murray’s max salary unless they decide the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown partnership has run its course. But if that is their decision, then pairing Tatum with a second option like Murray would be one less costly way to pivot than chasing Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Trade candidates: Jaylen Brown ($57.1 million), Derrick White ($30.3 million), Sam Hauser ($10.8 million).

Dallas Mavericks: Old friend Masai Ujiri would be justified if he decided the Mavs have a miniature window for the next three seasons, before Cooper Flagg gets expensive. He’s already a budding superstar one year into his career. If his upward trajectory proves to be anywhere near as exponential as Victor Wembanyama’s, then the remainder of Murray’s prime could fit the timeline of Flagg’s rookie contract. Kyrie Irving is 34 and hasn’t played in more than a year; with a new front-office regime in place, the Mavericks’ commitment to him as a foundational piece is unclear.

Trade candidates: Kyrie Irving ($39.5 million), PJ Washington ($19.8 million), Klay Thompson ($17.5 million), Caleb Martin ($10 million), Naji Marshall ($9.4 million), Max Christie ($8.3 million).

Miami Heat: Like Boston, Miami might have more ambitious pursuits in mind than Murray. But after years stuck in the middle, it feels like some sort of change is coming to an awkwardly built roster around defensive anchor (and 83-point scorer!) Bam Adebayo.

Trade candidates: Norman Powell (UFA), Tyler Herro ($33 million), Andrew Wiggins ($30.2 million, player option), Davion Mitchell ($12.4 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($5.9 million), Kel’el Ware ($4.7 million), Kasparas Jakucionas ($3.8 million).

Sacramento Kings: No, they’re not a contender by any means. But you never know what the Kings might do. Perhaps Vivek Ranadive is overcome with seller’s remorse and wants to aggressively pursue a new star point guard after watching Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox thrive in the last three postseasons. One thing that would be appealing to Denver is the amount of 2027 expiring salary the Kings have on their books with trade candidates like Zach LaVine.

Trade candidates: Zach LaVine ($49 million), DeMar DeRozan ($25.7 million), De’Andre Hunter ($24.9 million), Keegan Murray ($24.1 million), Malik Monk ($20.2 million), Devin Carter ($5.2 million).

Potential Aaron Gordon trade partners

Charlotte Hornets: After a meteoric midseason rise to become one of the NBA’s best offenses, Charlotte went out sad in the Play-In Tournament. The future is bright. The Hornets have every reason to believe they can compete with the best teams in the East next year. Gordon would be a clear upgrade from Miles Bridges at power forward, adding defensive toughness and championship experience to a young roster.

Trade candidates: Miles Bridges ($22.8 million), Josh Green ($14.7 million), Grant Williams ($14.3 million), Tre Mann ($8 million), Pat Connaughton ($3.8 million, team option), Liam McNeeley ($2.9 million).

Detroit Pistons: Maybe the Pistons can re-sign the aging Tobias Harris for an affordable price (he was already making $26 million) and trade for a star-caliber upgrade on the wing, like Trey Murphy III. But if those plans don’t work out, Gordon is the type of player who could bolster their offense — both as a secondary ball-handler and spot-up shooter — without giving up any of the doggedness that became Detroit’s identity as a flawed No. 1 seed.

Trade candidates: Kevin Huerter (UFA), Duncan Robinson ($16 million), Isaiah Stewart ($15 million), Caris LeVert ($14.8 million), Marcus Sasser ($5.2 million).

Los Angeles Lakers: Los Angeles would probably love to steal any of Watson, Johnson or Gordon from Denver. The hard part to imagine about this fit is a Denver fan favorite wearing the loathsome purple and gold of the Lakers.

Trade candidates: LeBron James (UFA), Rui Hachimura (UFA), Luke Kennard (UFA), Jarred Vanderbilt ($12.4 million), Jake LaRavia ($6 million), Marcus Smart ($5.4 million, player option), Dalton Knecht ($4.2 million).

San Antonio Spurs: Similarly, it seems unlikely that Denver would trade a core player to one of its biggest adversaries in the Western Conference. But the Spurs could benefit from getting a little bigger on the wing around Wembanyama, and Gordon would be an outstanding four in their starting lineup. Another obstacle: The Spurs have so many talented young players on team-friendly contracts that it’s difficult to see them wanting to part with, well, almost anyone on their 2026-27 roster. Gordon would make them older and more fragile in the legs.

Trade candidates: Harrison Barnes (UFA), Keldon Johnson ($17.5 million), Luke Kornet ($10.5 million), Carter Bryant ($5.1 million).

Phoenix Suns: Phoenix seems fully committed to building around Devin Booker for the foreseeable future, and Gordon does fit his timeline. The Suns will have to get creative if they want to keep trending up after a pleasantly surprising seventh-place finish. The power forward position is an obvious hole in their roster.

Trade candidates: Dillon Brooks ($21 million), Grayson Allen ($18.1 million), Royce O’Neale ($10.9 million).

Golden State Warriors: There might not be a more desperate team to stay competitive short-term than Golden State. Age is just a number to the Warriors right now. They’re reportedly preparing to pursue Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and anyone else they can get their hands on in an effort to stay relevant as the sun begins to set on Steph Curry’s career. Gordon would look young and spry on this roster.

Trade candidates: Moses Moody ($12.5 million), Al Horford ($6 million, player option), Brandin Podziemski ($5.7 million), Gui Santos ($4.6 million).

Los Angeles Clippers: An absolute wild card. Do they tear it down and start a rebuild around Darius Garland and the No. 5 pick? Or do they try to stay competitive after a 15th consecutive season above .500, the longest active streak in the league?

Trade candidates: John Collins (UFA), Bogdan Bogdanovic ($16 million, team option), Derrick Jones Jr. ($10.5 million), Brook Lopez ($9.2 million, team option), Isaiah Jackson ($7 million), Kris Dunn ($5.7 million, non-guaranteed).

But the remark was nonetheless revealing — specifically, the absence of a sentence clause offering Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon the same protection as Jokic.

The 31-year-old Serbian center is due a contract extension this summer, and all indications are that he plans to sign it. As for Denver’s other two franchise cornerstones, the future is clouded by Kroenke’s comment. Should it be taken seriously? Or was it just an easy platitude, meant to convey the urgency of the situation after a disappointing first-round playoff loss? After all, Kroenke also hinted that “running it back” with the remaining core of Denver’s 2023 championship team is a possibility.

In order to peel back the layers and truly understand how the Nuggets might proceed from here, you have to follow the money. That will dictate team officials’ offseason decisions as much as — if not more than — the fact that the Nuggets fell flat in the playoffs. The Post has already reported that at least one key player is almost guaranteed to be sacrificed this summer. As we begin exploring Denver’s trade possibilities and free-agent candidates over the next few weeks, we must start with what they have to offer — and why not one but multiple starter-level players could feasibly be gone by the time the dust settles on this offseason.

A mock offseason … minus the trades

The easiest way to illustrate the Nuggets’ dilemma is to first predict every roster decision they’re going to make, minus trades. Basically, we’re gaming out a “mock offseason” but leaving it incomplete. That should give us a rough estimate of their 2026-27 payroll and how much salary they’ll have to dump via a trade to avoid the repeater tax.

Here are the projected NBA tax thresholds for next season to keep in mind:

• Luxury tax: $201 million
• First apron: $209 million
• Second apron: $222 million

At this exact moment, the Nuggets have 10 roster spots filled and $213.8 million on the books. Even in the most aggressive version of this offseason imaginable, in which they decide to spend lavishly, they’re probably going to treat that second-apron number as a hard cap. Most NBA owners do. Alternatively, the Kroenkes might want to get under the luxury tax or at least within range of it — enough to preserve the option to shed more salary at the 2027 trade deadline (like they did this past season). That means we’re eyeing $201 million as the goal while predicting these moves. We have to locate the easiest ways to snip payroll.

Start with backup center Jonas Valanciunas, who has a non-guaranteed salary of $10 million. The Nuggets have already agreed to guarantee him $2 million of that. But it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that he won’t be in Denver next season. He might not be in the NBA at all. One major Euro League team already tried to lure him away last summer, and he’s reportedly expected to have more overseas suitors this year. Leaving the NBA behind would allow him to be closer to home (Lithuania) and get more playing time as he enters the late stages of his career.

The exit strategy here could work in one of three ways. The Nuggets could trade him to a team that’s willing to eat the remaining salary on his contract after releasing him. But that would probably cost them at least a second-round pick, and they have only three of those to spend with other salary-shedding moves to anticipate. Another option is to waive Valanciunas outright and eat the $2 million on the 2026-27 cap sheet. Or they could “waive and stretch” him, which would basically disperse his guaranteed salary over three seasons. The Nuggets would incur a modest $666,667 dead cap hit next season, still saving them $9.3 million. It seems like the most reasonable route to predict, partially because ownership shouldn’t be as worried about paying the tax in the last two seasons of stretched salary if Denver successfully ducks the repeater next year.

Another easy penny-pinching move is to pick up Jalen Pickett’s fourth-year team option. His $2.41 million salary is about $40,000 cheaper than the projected veteran minimum cap hit. Cha-ching.

Another is to keep the No. 26 pick in the draft and sign that player to a standard contract. The rookie salary scale for the 26th pick is projected to start around $3.1 million. That’s a cheap roster spot and an opportunity to fill a positional hole of Denver’s choosing, lower down on the depth chart.

The Nuggets have two restricted free agents in Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones. Jones came close but didn’t quite meet the “starter criteria” for RFAs, meaning his qualifying offer is the standard minimum instead of $5.9 million. Watson’s qualifying offer is $6.5 million, but he’ll get paid much more than that, whether it’s from Denver or someone else. It should be noted that if the Nuggets want to scare away other suitors (Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Chicago), they’ll probably want to telegraph their intent and ability to match offer sheets in advance. They can only do that by agreeing to a significant salary-shedding trade and clearing their books before free agency — a brutal tightrope to walk with no guarantee that Watson doesn’t still get a lucrative offer regardless. Point being: Our order of operations in this simulation is not meant to be accurate.

Watson checks a lot of boxes for the Nuggets after they felt like they were at a loss for secondary ball-handling and athleticism against Minnesota. Let’s just say restricted free agency works out perfectly, with Jones taking his qualifying offer and Watson getting squeezed a bit in negotiations. We’ll pencil him in for an ascending deal that starts at $20 million next season and has an average annual value between that and $25 million. This would be a team-friendly outcome that still acknowledges and validates Watson’s breakout year.

In summary, here are the (hypothetical) moves:

• Waive and stretch Jonas Valanciunas
• Pick up Jalen Pickett’s team option
• Keep the 26th pick in the draft
• Re-sign Spencer Jones at the minimum
• Re-sign Peyton Watson to an ascending deal starting at $20 million

This adds up to a payroll just shy of $230 million, with 12 roster spots occupied. Teams are required to carry at least 14 players on the 15-man roster. We saw the Nuggets leave the 15th vacant for most of last season. It seems likely that they’ll want to repeat that strategy to help with their cap crunch. But even if they do, they’re left with $29 million to cut and two more roster spots to fill.

Ideally, part of the solution is to find a trade that achieves both goals by breaking down a single large salary into multiple smaller ones. But keep in mind that it can be difficult to pull off in the NBA’s apron era, when there are usually more teams trying to shed money than welcome more of it.

Which players can the Nuggets trade?

Outside of Jokic (and Valanciunas), here are Denver’s bulkiest 2026-27 salaries:

• Jamal Murray: $50.1 million, three years remaining
• Aaron Gordon: $32 million, three years remaining
• Cam Johnson: $23.1 million, one year remaining
• Christian Braun: $21.6 million, five years remaining
• Zeke Nnaji: $7.5 million, two years remaining

The reality is that neither Braun nor Nnaji can be the centerpiece of a trade. Now that Nnaji is halfway through his extension with a descending salary against an increasing cap, the Nuggets might be able to get off his contract by attaching him to a better player or by intervening in a random trade between other teams that need salary filler to complete the deal. (Keep an eye on the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes — Denver could look to get involved as a fourth or fifth party, depending on how the trade landscape develops for Milwaukee’s superstar.)

Or the Nuggets could get rid of Nnaji in a straight-up salary-dump trade if they can convince someone to take second-round picks or a future first-round swap along with his contract.

Braun’s salary and term are probably both too daunting a commitment to say the same for him. Other teams just aren’t going to be sold on the 25-year-old guard right now. His shooting and handles are both under the microscope. The Nuggets can explore the market and offer to mortgage what’s left of their future draft pick pool, but they’ll have a hard time finding any takers.

That leaves you with Murray, Gordon and Johnson as the three main options who are:

1. Good enough to draw interest from other teams and become a primary trade chip.
2. Paid enough to help the Nuggets unload substantial salary in a trade.

Johnson is probably the easiest of the three to move because he’s on an expiring contract next season. In other words, he’s a low-risk commitment. Contenders and tankers alike could be swayed to take the 43% outside shooter, and Denver might even be able to get back some future draft capital. The problem is that his value might also be somewhat diluted by Denver’s intentions to dump salary. You have to view “getting off of Player X’s contract” as part of the return when evaluating this type of trade.

Now, consider that even if the Nuggets are able to reduce their payroll by most of Johnson’s $23 million salary, they would ˛őłŮľ±±ô±ôĚýbe a few million over the tax.

Sacrificing him isn’t enough. The math simply doesn’t add up. If you completely ignore NBA trade rules and other teams’ priorities, and if you subtract Johnson’s salary and Nnaji’s from $230 million without adding a single cent back, you still end up around $199.5 million with four open spots. Four veteran minimum free agents later, you’re paying $209.3 million for a roster with no salaries between $5 million and $21 million.

If the financial goal is merely to avoid the $222 million second apron, deciding between Johnson and Watson should suffice.

But the only way to actually duck the repeater tax, barring a miracle of front-office work by Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer, is to dump Johnson and lose another valuable player. Maybe that means letting Watson go in free agency, or maybe that means trading Murray or Gordon.

Either way, it’s a financial dilemma that illuminates the meaning behind Kroenke’s message.

If the Nuggets “run it back” with their three best players, but they also want to evade the tax, the cost might be both Watson and Johnson — leaving them with a shallower, older version of the team that just lost in the first round.

If they truly want to prioritize youth, athleticism and defense at all costs (well, except for the tax), they might be sacrificing two starters to keep Watson — even at a relatively low-end salary projection, as we’ve outlined.

Neither option would be encouraging for the team’s championship aspirations in a league ruled by Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

And neither option would be a flattering look for Stan Kroenke, .

The counterpoint from ownership would be that two consecutive years out of the tax can set Denver up for three seasons of aggressive spending that coincide with the term of Jokic’s next contract. And that a first-round exit from the 2026 playoffs revealed the Nuggets are overdue for a reset of the core.

A reasonable rebuttal would be that next season is always the most important season when a player like Jokic is in his prime — and possibly nearing the end of it.

Sean Keeler: When he’s right, Aaron Gordon is the All he does is win, win, win, no matter what. But there’s one factor he can’t charge: karma. Every time David Adelman’s crew takes a step forward, it feels as if the hoops gods cock their heads, laugh maniacally, and decide to set them a half-step back. (See: Murray, Jamal.) Any Nuggets team with AG in it is a team worth taking seriously. But I’ve also watched them stumble against good NBA rosters, playoff rosters, too many times lately to trust the vibes. I also can’t get one image out of my head from Sunday: Nathan MacKinnon smiling. Like, actually, unabashedly smiling. A man embracing the sheer joy of the game, in the moment, for everybody to see. If Naz Kadri could bring that much light to the most serious man in hockey, hey, forget the Stanley Cup, dude. Give Naz the Nobel Prize for sunshine.

Renck: Gordon cannot save the Nuggets’ season. At least not alone. That is becoming obvious since every day brings another co-pay on a visit to the trainer’s room. Denver has the talent to compete for a championship, but lacks health and grit. The Nuggets were supposed to unseat OKC. Clearly, that role has shifted to the Spurs. Gordon needs to become Jayson Tatum, who seamlessly rejoined the Celtics. Gordon delivered an awful performance on Friday night against the Knicks. He is too good to play like this. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. But time is running out on what is becoming an underwhelming season.

Keeler: I was stoked for that Knicks tussle — until about midway through the second quarter. It’s not fair to ask AG to hit the ground running on a bad hammy, but that’s the hole the Nuggets find themselves in down the stretch run. There’s just so little margin for error right now. Denver woke up Monday as the 6 seed in the West with a 39-25 mark. Everything’s changed so much on Chopper Circle since April 7, and yet it’s not always changing for the better. This is a roster that, on talent and reputation, should be able to kick it into another gear. Yet there’s just something wrong with the suspension right now. You fix a flat tire, the bumper falls off. Again: karma.

Renck: At 35, Kadri should be on the other side of his career. Instead, he looks energized. Has there ever been a better Avs’ fit in a deadline deal? He plays his best when the game is big, physical, mean, gritty. He wants all the smoke. The Nuggets’ season will go up in smoke if Gordon fails to provide an edge, toughness, defense and slow-heartbeat 3-pointers. Kadri has the advantage of joining a team that is so loaded that anything less than a Stanley Cup appearance will demand an investigation. This is what was thought about Gordon and the Nuggets a few months ago. But everything about this season feels off, wrong. Gordon has a month to make it right.

Keeler: It’s going to be an interesting month, my friend. Kadri is like AG in that his return, for the most part, brings back the happiest of memories. He’s unlike AG in that the team he rejoined is a 1 seed, absolutely cruising and, as opposed to their basketball counterparts, just built up a little more separation with shootout wins over their closest division rivals. Talking to Naz at his locker stall on Sunday, the man looked genuinely happy to be here. But not as happy as MacKinnon was to share the ice with him. Logan O’Connor, Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen are working their way back, too. It’s no wonder the smiles in the Colorado locker room feel awfully contagious right now.

Especially after watching hockey’s biggest best-on-best international tournament in years. It was some of the most phenomenal theater to come out of the 2026 Milan/Cortina Olympics — NHL stars competing for their national teams in a stirring tournament that peaked with overtime in the gold medal game.

It got me thinking about 2028, admittedly. About all the NBA stars set to converge in Los Angeles at the next Summer Olympics. Momentum is at an all-time high for international basketball after the Paris Games in 2024. Team USA defended its crown, but the world showed how much the gap has closed. Arguably, the five best players on the planet right now are all international.

So forgive me for indulging in a bit of heavy speculation this week. I took a crack at ranking the best national teams by what they might look like in 2028, using  to guess the 12 squads that might make the tournament at Intuit Dome. (There must be at least two teams from the Americas, two from Europe, one from Asia, one from Africa and one from Oceania.) Will it be a revenge tour for Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray?

1. USA

Sure, the world is catching up. But spend 10 minutes trying to piece together who Team USA’s 12 should be for the next Olympics and you’ll still give yourself a headache. What¶¶Ňőap clear is that a changing of the guard is in store, with the apparent exception of international basketball’s GOAT, Kevin Durant. My best stab at a starting lineup right now includes two guys who haven’t even played this year: Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Cooper Flagg, Jayson Tatum and Chet Holmgren. That gives you defensive credibility at two through five, scoring punch from different spots on the floor and an elite table-setter whose recent Indiana heroics shouldn’t be forgotten just because other American guards have demanded the spotlight during his Achilles rehab.

About those guards: Is there room for Haliburton, Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson on this roster? What about the burgeoning Kon Knueppel? Team USA needs glue guys and size to compete with certain European frontcourts. Bam Adebayo and Joel Embiid are the incumbent bigs, but I can be convinced that Evan Mobley and/or Jalen Duren will be ready to replace them by 2028, in addition to Holmgren. This remains the only national team that will have star NBA players miss the cut based on merit.

2. Canada

The Canadians were supposed to be Team USA’s most dangerous challenger in Paris. Instead, they crashed and burned before the medal round, never giving themselves a chance to face off against their neighbors. On paper, Canada still looks just as good, if not better, for 2028. How many MVP trophies will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander own by then? He turns 30 two days before the opening ceremony. Jamal Murray will be 31. Andrew Nembhard, Benedict Mathurin and Shaedon Sharpe could be the most talented bench trio in the tournament outside of Team USA. RJ Barrett and Dillon Brooks, who are having a career year in Phoenix right now, should still be solid on the wings. But will the roster have a legit center this time? Zach Edey’s health might be the biggest X-factor in the entire field.

3. France

Canada and France provided a compelling battle of juxtaposing strengths and weaknesses when they met in the 2024 quarterfinals. The bigger team won. Since then, the canyon between France’s frontcourt and backcourt talent has seemingly only widened. Wemby has already developed into an MVP candidate and driving force of an NBA title contender. Rudy Gobert’s defensive impact has not yet faded. Alex Sarr entered the league as a No. 2 overall pick and established himself as the Wizards’ starting center. Former second-round draft pick Moussa Diabate broke out this season as Charlotte’s best five-man. Guerschon Yabusele leveraged his success at the Olympics to revive his career and sneak back into the NBA. That’s not to mention a handful of unproven forwards who’ve been lottery picks, including Zaccharie Risacher, Noa Essengue and Tidjane Salaun.

The defending silver medalists should lean into their strength and try every possible double-big combination when they play international exhibitions leading up to Los Angeles. In the meantime, they have two years to figure out who their best guards and wings are, now that the Evan Fournier-Nic Batum generation has aged out. Nolan Traore? Bilal Coulibaly? Pacome Dadiet?

4. Serbia

It feels unfair to rank Serbia this low after nearly knocking off Team USA in the greatest international basketball game ever played. But a few key developmental variables have stalled halfway through the four-year interval between Olympic tournaments.

Nikola Topic, a 6-foot-6 point guard drafted 12th overall in 2024 but left off the Olympic roster that summer, has overcome a torn ACL and testicular cancer just to finally debut in the NBA this month. His progress over the next couple of seasons will be crucial. Nikola Jovic, a Heat wing who came off the bench for Serbia in Paris, has regressed to a 27% outside shooting clip this season. His playing time has taken a dip in Miami. The Hawks recently waived Nikola Djurisic, a recent second-round pick.

Serbia has a perennially healthy pipeline of teenage talent on the way and a solid cast of national team veterans like Aleksa Avramovic and Filip Petrusev, but the point is — at this particular snapshot in time — there are more unknowns than we might have expected two years ago with the youth movement.

Team captain Bogdan Bogdanovic might have one more run in him at Intuit Dome, where he currently plays his home games, but he’ll be turning 36 that summer. His play has already started to decline in the NBA. Jokic will surely tie it all together, but even he might not be the consensus best player in the world anymore by 2028. You can count on this: After experiencing heartbreak and elation in Paris, he will be highly motivated for possibly the last Olympic tournament of his prime.

5. Germany

Dennis Schroder might age in the NBA, but his youth is eternal when he plays by FIBA’s rules. Franz Wagner provides the NBA star power. Isaiah Hartenstein could anchor the starting lineup if he signs on to play. Former CU Buff Tristan da Silva figures to be a big part of Germany’s future.

6. Australia

Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels — the Great Barrier Thief! — form a dangerous guard duo. But can Jock Landale and Rocco Zikarsky hang with some of the world’s best big men?

7. Greece

Giannis Antetokounmpo has never had particularly memorable supporting casts on his national team, but one interesting storyline to watch in the next few months is the commitment of Andrej Stojakovic. His mother is Greek (he was born there). His father is Peja Stojakovic, a former NBA All-Star who played for Rick Adelman in Sacramento. Andrej is eligible to play for Greece or Serbia. Right now, he’s in college at 10th-ranked Illinois, which has become a haven for European prospects.

8. Turkey

Led by Rockets center Alperen “Baby Jokic” Sengun (he’s getting a little tired of the nickname) and former NBA guard Shane Larkin (son of Baseball Hall of Famer Barry), Turkey knocked off Jokic and Serbia last summer at EuroBasket. Larkin will certainly be past his prime in 2028, but Turkey has a bright future with the opportunity to build around Sengun.

9. Slovenia

Here’s hoping Slovenia makes the cut. It’s another country that fell short in 2024. The tournament will be better with Luka Doncic in it, especially in the NBA city he now calls home.

10. Lithuania

After failing to qualify for Paris, this might be the last Olympic cycle for Nuggets backup center Jonas Valanciunas, who will be 36 during the Los Angeles Games. Lithuania reached the quarterfinals of EuroBasket last year, and that was without Bulls wing Matas Buzelis and Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionas.

11. Japan

Frankly, it would be better for the overall competition if Turkey could count as the team from Asia, and then one of the sleepers listed below would probably make it over Japan. But Turkey is officially categorized as European, despite being geographically located in both continents. That means Japan slips into the field at No. 22 in FIBA rankings.

I mean no disrespect toward Japan’s talent pool, of course. If I can break the fourth wall: One of the best live basketball experiences of my life was my 2024 vacation excursion to Lille, France, to watch the hosts take on Japan in a group stage game. Despite legendary performances by Rui Hachimura and Yuki Kawamura, France won in overtime with help from a rather friendly home whistle. (Hachimura’s ejection for arguing? That game-tying 4-point play call? Come on.) I’m rooting for Japan to get the justice it deserves in LA, if it makes it.

12. South Sudan

With Luol Deng serving as president of the country’s basketball federation, South Sudan has been a slow and steady success story in international hoops, culminating with a near-upset of Team USA in a pre-Olympic 2024 exhibition. (LeBron James played spoiler with a game-winning layup.) Suns rookie center Khaman Maluach, still 19 and drafted 10th last year, is the .

Sleepers: Jamaica, Cameroon, Spain, Argentina, Finland, Puerto Rico

There’s been speculation about whether Amen and Ausar Thompson might seek citizenship in Jamaica, where their dad is from, to play international hoops together. They would join Norman Powell, a compelling foundation. I’ve always thought it would be cool to see Embiid and Pascal Siakam team up for Cameroon in the Olympics, but that would require Embiid choosing to seek a national team change and FIBA allowing it. Spain and Argentina are the highest-ranked teams (according to FIBA) that didn’t appear on this list. And Finland is fresh off a semifinal run at EuroBasket led by Jazz star Lauri Markkanen.

If his knee allows it, the Nuggets center is pretty much a lock to be sent to Los Angeles for an eighth consecutive All-Star Game on Feb. 15, when he will definitely be thrilled to be part of the festivities.

The voting window for the 2025-26 NBA All-Stars ended Wednesday, and the results will be of particular interest in Denver this year — even with Jokic’s inclusion being anticlimactic. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, long regarded as one of the best players in the league without All-Star recognition, has made a strong case to finally get over the hump with his best statistical start to a season.

Has he done enough in an unfairly competitive Western Conference? Despite the format of the “game” itself undergoing another sweeping overhaul — the 24 All-Stars will be divided into two eight-man U.S. teams and a world team to compete in a round-robin tournament — the league still wants to adhere to tradition in the selection process. Twelve All-Stars from each conference. Five from each recognized as “starters” in name only.

Voting on those starters is position-less and broken down into three factions. Fan submissions count for 50% of the vote, a media panel counts for 25% and players count for 25%. The seven “reserves” from each conference are then chosen by head coaches. Starters are announced Monday; reserves on Feb. 1.

Here is my official starters ballot, as well as my informal picks on who I think should earn the reserve spots.

Western Conference All-Star picks

Starters: Luka Doncic (LAL), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Nikola Jokic (DEN), Victor Wembanyama (SAS).

I found myself choosing between six players for five spots in both conferences. The difficult exclusion in the West pretty clearly came down to Edwards and Steph Curry. They’re about as deadlocked as it gets, but I ultimately used Ant Man’s efficiency in the clutch as my tiebreaker. His timely shot-making has elevated Minnesota a tier above Golden State in the conference hierarchy: When I submitted my ballot, he was shooting 70.7% from the field in “clutch time” (to Curry’s 43.8%) and 57.1% from the 3-point line, helping the Wolves to a 9-5 record and 9.4 net rating in those situations. (The Nuggets experienced it even in a game they eventually won on Christmas.) The Warriors were 6-9 with a minus-11.4 net rating in clutch games with Curry playing.

The other four starters were no-brainers. Remember, there’s no minimum on games played for All-Star qualification, allowing voter discretion on superstars who’ve been hurt like Jokic and Wembanyama — the league’s best offensive and defensive players, respectively.

Reserves: Deni Avdija (POR), Steph Curry (GSW), Kevin Durant (HOU), Chet Holmgren (OKC), Kawhi Leonard (LAC), Jamal Murray (DEN), Julius Randle (MIN).

This is truly a cutthroat race. Yet I found Murray to be a no-doubter as I went through my list of candidates. Of the 64 players who’ve taken 200 or more 3s this season, he leads the NBA with a 44.6% clip on 285 attempts. His decision-making has been crisp. His passing placement has continued to be an underrated aspect of his game. And aside from the career-high numbers across the board, Murray has cemented his status as a deserving All-Star by leading the Nuggets through this stretch without Jokic.

There’s no way to justify selecting only one player from Oklahoma City, and I think Holmgren is a worthy second choice from the Thunder’s repository of talent. He’s one of the most valuable defenders in the league, and his offensive game has steadily expanded this season with a bit more off-the-dribble work and a 6.7% improvement in true shooting. (He now ranks eighth in the NBA in that category.)

Minnesota is the other team with two players listed here. I had Houston’s Alperen Sengun penciled in at first, but Randle stole the spot from him at the last minute. Their numbers are pretty comparable, but I just think Randle has been a little more essential to the offense of a team that I think is a little better than Houston. The Wolves actually have an 11.6 net rating when Randle is on the floor and Edwards isn’t. He stretches the floor a bit more reliably than Sengun. And assist-to-turnover ratio has to matter eventually if you’re the play-making hub of an offense. Sengun’s is 1.97. (Side note: Rudy Gobert has been excellent for Minnesota and also crossed my mind as an option.)

If All-Star selection didn’t support the facade of conference equality, then Sengun would absolutely be one of my 24 players. In general, my ballot would skew pretty heavily in favor of the West. I hated having to choose between players on lesser teams (Leonard, Avdija) and one particular guy on a more successful squad — I’ll get to him later. Ultimately, I decided Leonard and Avdija have simply been too good to leave out, elevating the Clippers and Blazers into much more competitive territory.

Eastern Conference All-Star picks

ł§łŮ˛ą°ůłŮ±đ°ů˛ő:ĚýGiannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Jaylen Brown (BOS), Cade Cunningham (DET), Tyrese Maxey (PHL), Donovan Mitchell (CLE).

I’m sure the exclusion of Brunson will put me in the minority of voters. I took no pleasure in it, but I just had a hard time making a case for him over any of these candidates as I went one by one. Mitchell might be the most popular choice on the chopping block, largely because of Cleveland’s underwhelming first half of the season as a team. But the patron statistic of Nuggets fans defending Jokic’s honor over the years has been on/off net rating differential, and Mitchell’s is the second-highest in the league right now (behind Jokic) at 14.8.

That’s far from an ironclad measurement of individual impact, but I do think it’s revealing that Cleveland’s 8.4 net with “Spida” on the floor would be second-best in the NBA. He has also attempted the most valuable shot in the sport (the three) more times than anyone else in the league at a 39% clip.

The player I was closest to swapping out for Brunson was Brown, but I couldn’t get myself there. The scoring responsibility he shouldered to get the Celtics to second in the East without Jayson Tatum is one of the defining stories of this NBA season, not to mention his efficiency and his on-ball defense.

Reserves: Scottie Barnes (TOR), Jalen Brunson (NYK), Jalen Duren (DET), Jalen Johnson (ATL), Michael Porter Jr. (BKN), Norman Powell (MIA), Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK).

Look, this isn’t the most inspiring list you’ll ever see. The standards are just different in the East right now. I found myself choosing between a few guys performing below their preseason expectations toward the end — Towns, Evan Mobley, Desmond Bane. I also flirted with a couple of elite role players, including OG Anunoby and Derrick White, before settling on what’s probably a somewhat chalky set of picks.

Props to MPJ for what’s likely to be his first career All-Star nod, coinciding with Murray’s. The Nets are the worst team on this entire list, but his shot-making talent has ascended to a new level with higher volume.

World Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Deni Avdija (POR), Luka Doncic (LAL), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Nikola Jokic (DEN), Donovan Mitchell (CLE), Jamal Murray (DEN), Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK), Victor Wembanyama (SAS).

I’m going to finish by cheating a little. Towns and Mitchell were both born in the U.S., but they’ve said publicly they want to play for the world team because of their family roots (Dominican Republic for Towns, Panama for Mitchell). The new format requires a minimum of 16 U.S. players and eight international players, in order to field three teams for the tournament. If one or the other is short on players, then commissioner Adam Silver will pick extras to ensure both teams have enough.

Who am I to deny KAT and Mitchell? Categorizing them on the world team enables me to reward one more player with a spot: Devin Booker. The Suns guard is the frontman of one of the most surprising teams of the season, but he’s inhibited just by playing in the West. I couldn’t find a place for him in my initial 12 — would like to see more efficient shooting splits — but his overall impact on winning makes him deserving of a 25th spot.