The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are expected to go back and forth in the Western Conference for the next several seasons, leaving other great teams far behind.
As evidenced by their run to the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs are officially the best team in the Western Conference. Now, that's not a title they can rest on. In the playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder were without Jalen Williams, and the vast majority of the conference got better.
The Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, and Dallas Mavericks aren't exactly threats, but they all made moves in recent months to get better. Closer to the top of the West, the Lakers have moved on from LeBron James and built a better-suited cast to find success around Luka Doncic.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, too, got busy. Victor Wembanyama elbowed Naz Reid all the way to Charlotte, but the Wolves bought in LaMelo Ball, a proven All-Star and facilitator to run the offense.
Despite all of the improvements, one perennial contender opted to hold pat and is stuck watching the rest of the West pass them up.
Denver Nuggets Are Past Their Prime
At this point, the top three players in the NBA are generally recognized as Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nikola Jokic. You can put that trio in pretty much any order, and most fans won't argue too much.
Jokic's team, though, is lagging behind. Sure, they won the title in 2023, but during his prime, they have made only two Conference Finals. Considering that their best player has three MVP awards, that's pretty disappointing.
And their best years might be behind them. Not only are the young Spurs and Thunder getting better (as did the Wolves and Lakers), but Denver has decided not to improve at all.
"They were very clearly behind in the playoffs," said Es Baraheni on The Athletic NBA Daily. "The Thunder have passed them. The Spurs are probably past them as well at this point as a perennial Western Conference powerhouse. And it kind of feels like they are now on the tail end or the second half of their prime; they needed to make some sort of shift, whether it was trading Jamal Murray, whether it was shaking things up with Aaron Gordon or finding a way to rejig their team with Cam Johnson and Christian Braun. There was just something that they had to do, and they haven't done that."
Denver is saddled with the second apron, but they could have traded either Gordon or Murray to revamp their core and add some versatility. After losing to the Jaden McDaniels-led Wolves in the first round--without Anthony Edwards--Denver is very clearly lagging behind in even the second tier of Western talent.
For the Spurs, one less threat in an otherwise loaded conference is a good thing. For fans who wanted to see Jokic dominate the league, not just MVP voting, maybe it's time for him to enjoy a change of scenery.
