Nuggets believe they're still in their 'championship window' - ESPN

DENVER — With a blue banner commemorating the team's 2023 NBA championship hanging behind him at the Denver Nuggets practice facility, head coach Mike Malone described a sense of urgency for the 2024-25 season, a sentiment shared by star guard Jamal Murray recently during a locker room speech.

«He reminds his teammates, don't take this for granted,» Malone said during the Nuggets' media day held Thursday. «He goes, 'We have a championship window, not every team has a championship window. And what do you do? Do you take advantage of that or do you look back in 20 years and have regrets?'»

Murray, who agreed to a four-year, $208 million maximum contract extension earlier this month, says the entire team needs to approach this season with the right mentality.

«The young guys, as we get older, they'll see us [struggle] to win in this league and that it's tough for GMs to create a team like this, that's this talented and that gets along this well off the court as well,» said Murray. «So I just said, take advantage of the moment. We got a chance to do great things, let's make the most of it.»

And one of the reasons the Nuggets are in a hurry is because they're in the prime of superstar center Nikola Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP.

«In a best-case scenario, I think Nikola has a prime 10-year contention window,» said Nuggets GM Calvin Booth. «I think we're about halfway through it. So, we probably have about five more similar shots and all the shots count. We hit one of them, that's great. The earlier we hit it, the more we can have conversations about other things, but it's going to be incredibly hard to win another one.»

«I think Nikola Jokic is probably going to go down as one of the best to ever play the game.,» added forward