While many have pegged the San Antonio Spurs as the biggest threats to the OKC Thunder in the West this season, another team has quietly made its case for the conference crown.
On a recent segment of the Hoop Collective Podcast, ESPN senior writer Tim Bontemps boldly placed Denver above San Antonio as the team with the best odds of dethroning the Thunder.
"Nikola Jokic has obviously gotten to [the Finals], Jamal Murray is playing the best basketball of his career... To me, if I'm putting anybody else in that group out West... Denver's the only team I could put up there with OKC," Bontemps said.
While the ESPN writer acknowledges that the Nuggets would need to get healthy to see his prediction come true, he emphasizes the importance of experience and notes that the Spurs' youth could work against them come playoff time.
Bontemps clearly demonstrated an understanding of playoff experience with his take. He compared this season's Spurs team to the talented 2024-2025 Thunder squad that lost to the Mavs in a competitive six-game series.
While they didn't lack talent, OKC didn't possess the level of experience necessary to go all the way. A year later, though, they used their playoff failures to propel them to a championship.
Nuggets may wind up surprising everyone, including the Thunder
The Nuggets have yet to put their best foot forward this season. Injuries to core players like Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Cameron Johnson have left them depleted for most of the year.
The terrifying part, however, is that they still sit just six games back of the Thunder despite their injury woes.
Aside from trading Michael Porter Jr. to the Nets for Cam Johnson, the Nuggets have largely kept their same core from last season, when they gave the Thunder a run for their money in a tight semifinal series that went seven games.
This year, they are arguably deeper. Role players like Peyton Watson, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valanciunas have proven they can step up when their team needs a boost off the bench.
Watson, in particular, has turned out to be a revelation. Once considered an afterthought in Denver, he has stepped up in place of injured stars to average 14.9 points per game, including a stretch of six straight 20-plus-point games when the majority of the starting lineup was injured.
While the Spurs have the regular-season advantage against the Thunder, experienced teams like OKC and Denver know the value of postseason experience.
With the rest of the West consistently showing their weaknesses, the conference as a whole may turn into a two-horse race if Denver can prove Bontemps' predictions right.