Ex-NBA Star Predicts Nuggets Will Make NBA Finals After Making Multiple Offseason Moves

This trade not only landed the Nuggets a sharpshooting forward in Johnson but also freed up cap space for them to sign Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. in free agency and acquire Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings via trade.

With these moves, the Nugget were able to upgrade their rotation around their core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon and many around the NBA believe they will be the biggest threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.

Blake Griffin predicts Nuggets to make NBA Finals

Among those who believe this is former NBA star Blake Griffin as he recently predicted that the Nuggets will represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals this season.

“I think Denver got better this summer,” Griffin said. “Denver took Oklahoma City to seven games. I think Denver gets to the Finals in the West. And I mean, I think it's New York (Knicks) or Cleveland (Cavaliers) in the East. I'll take New York. Maybe they learn from some mistakes, they make a few tweaks.”

Griffin made a bold prediction that the Nuggets will face off against the Knicks in the NBA Finals this season and he made a great point about why he believes so.

Of course, the Nuggets took the Thunder to seven games in their second-round series last season and while they were eliminated by Oklahoma City, they gave the eventual champions arguably their toughest test of their title run.

Now with the addition of Johnson to their starting lineup and the upgrades to their bench in Brown, Hardaway Jr. and Valanciunas, Denver has built a title contending roster that should compete well against the Thunder and other teams in the west this season.

Despite this, the West is loaded with multiple great teams outside of the Thunder that include the Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and many more that will all likely be a threat for the championship this season.

While that may be the case, the Nuggets have built a team that looks to be a major title threat on paper led by Jokic and many around the league expect them to be the main challenger to dethrone the Thunder next season.