Lowe - What to expect from this Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets clash of the titans - ESPN

This clash of Western Conference titans had to happen. There are too many connections between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves for it not to have. The teams have been eyeing each other all season, coaches spending idle hours scheming up counters.

Both teams are legitimate contenders. This is the toughest opponent Denver has encountered across its past two playoff runs. The road to the NBA's first repeat since 2018 will be much tougher than Denver's path last season — which began, of course, against the No. 8-seeded Timberwolves.

Ten days after the Nuggets hired Tim Connelly as their top basketball decision-maker in 2013, they traded the No. 27 pick to the Utah Jazz — who used it on Rudy Gobert. Connelly's first titanic move as the Wolves new president of basketball operations in 2022 was trading a haul to team Gobert with another star big in Karl-Anthony Towns. In Denver, Connelly had long toyed with the idea of pairing Nikola Jokic with a rim protector, sources said.

Calvin Booth, now Denver's general manager, played for the Wolves and worked in Minnesota's front-office before Connelly brought him to Denver. Chris Finch, the Wolves' head coach whose level of sideline participation is uncertain after he sustained a knee injury, was an assistant in Denver the season Jokic became a starter. Micah Nori, the Minnesota assistant who may patrol the sidelines if Finch can't, worked in Denver under current Nuggets head coach Michael Malone for several seasons.

Malone's staff includes two sons of former Wolves head coaches: Ryan Saunders and David Adelman. Saunders was also the Wolves' head coach for parts of three seasons.

If there is an agreed upon starting point for this era of Nuggets basketball, it is probably