Dynasties come in threes. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Nikola Jokic? Signed through 2027. Jamal Murray? Signed through 2029. Michael Porter Jr.? Signed through 2026. Aaron Gordon? Signed through 2025.
Full disclosure: The Grading The Week crew has some concerns regarding Mr. Nugget going forward. But before we get to those …
Murray’s extension — B-plus.
Team GTW found itself near a long and lonesome highway west of Omaha when the news of Murray’s new payday surfaced last weekend. Having had time to process the Blue Arrow’s four-year, $208.5 million extension in between bites of Runzas and Valentino’s Pizza on the way back home to the Front Range, your humble narrators decided on the following:
1. Josh Kroenke is a man of his word. He vowed to lock Murray up after a disappointing playoff run, and never wavered when asked about it after Murray’s even more disappointing Summer Olympics with Team Canada.
2. Murray now needs to hold up his end of the deal. The title window is right here, right now. Whatever it takes to stay physically and mentally prepped for long, grueling postseason marathons to come, that’s on No. 27. The Nuggets did him right,
3. Calvin Booth wasn’t going to find a proven playoff shooter of Murray’s ilk on the open market. Especially given how pinched the Nuggets are in terms of cap wiggle room and future draft-pick capital.
4. That said, Murray’s now reportedly the only NBA player who’ll start the season making at least $50 million, on average, who’s yet to make either an All-Star team or an All-NBA squad. Which brings us back to point No. 2.
5. Jokic and Murray are the Western Conference’s Andre 3000 & Big Boi, its Ashford & Simpson, the kind of magical partnership, from a management perspective, that you’d be crazy to mess with. (The Broncos, you mess with. The Rockies, you need to seriously mess with.) Every Nuggets postseason with Murray and Joker has led to a minimum of one playoff series win, and has landed Denver in two conference finals and notched an NBA title. Jokic is a unicorn. Murray can be, to put it kindly, mercurial. But man, do they go great together.
Aaron Gordon’s Front Range future — Inc.
All that being said, the hoops nuts up in the GTW offices are more than a little curious as to what Murray’s extension means for the future of Gordon in blue and gold.
Because what happens with Mr. Nugget in the coming months is going to reveal just how serious the Nuggets are about this whole “dynasty” thing.
Locking up Jokic and Murray into their 30s assures the base of an elite offensive 2-man force and a playoff-worthy team for probably another half-decade. At the worst.
But as we noted up top, NBA franchises in recent years who’ve won multiple titles have had at least one core third piece to buffer/complement the other two stars.
As much as we love that jumper, we’re not wholly convinced MPJ is that level of third wheel.
No, the next most important Nugget after the Big Two is No. 50, a 6-foot-8 forward who neatly papers over some of Murray’s and the Joker’s weaker points while also supplementing their many strengths. Gordon’s unselfish, smart, physical, an insanely athletic and ruthless finisher, an accomplished and willing defender, and a good enough passer and shooter to stretch defenses that become careless.
AG is basically the player you’d create on a video game to slot next to Joker and Murray while trying to build an NBA 2K beast on your Xbox. Unfortunately, the reality with Gordon, who’ll turn 29 on Monday, is more complicated.
No. 50 holds a $22.8 million player option for 2025-26. Like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope before him, Gordon could have a team with insane cap space back a Brink’s truck up to his front door. How aggressive Kroenke and the Nuggets front office are about an AG extension is going to tell everybody whether all that Denver dynasty talk has legs — or is just a bunch of hot air.
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
Originally Published: