Only three other MVPs didn’t make it out of the second round.

Over the last 20 years, three MVPs didn’t make it out of the first round. “I would prefer to play 82 (games),” Porter said. Porter swears he’s good to go and does not desire minutes restrictions after back surgery 11 months ago. Murray’s had almost 18 months to recover from knee surgery.

The pressure should be on the whole operation. The pressure should be on Malone, the coach, who's now the fourth longest-tenured coach in the NBA. If not now, with Joker and the most complete supporting cast of his young Hall of Fame career, when? The decades-long Nuggets curse that brought Antonio McDyess' knee injuries and Raef LaFrentz over Paul Pierce (and Vince Carter) needs to end. “We want to do whatever it takes to make that happen.” “We want to win a championship,” Malone continued. “In this business you don’t want long summers.”Īnd that’s two long summers in a row - at the same time Joker was earning two MVPs in a row.

It’s enough to compete for a spot in the NBA Finals. What else on earth do the Nuggets need to compete for the first title in team history? Nada. They crushed the offseason by adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown and first-round draft pick Christian Braun, a proud defender after Michael Malone's own heart. The Nuggets, God bless it, open a much-anticipated season Wednesday at Utah with a two-time NBA MVP in Nikola Jokic and two max contracts in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.

Nuggets standings