Nuggets Remain Confident Despite Devastating Injury Bug

The Denver Nuggets have had what's likely been the NBA's most injury-riddled season through the first two months of action.

Four of five starters are currently sidelined with weeks-long injuries, including three-time MVP Nikola Jokic with a hyperextended knee. Their backup center, Jonas Valanciunas, has just gone down with an injury holding a near-month recovery timeline and now leaves Jamal Murray on an island as the Nuggets' only healthy star for the next couple of weeks, hoping to keep Denver afloat in a tough Western Conference.

However, despite those lingering injury woes, and what could be a subtle drop in the standings that comes with those injuries in the next few weeks, internally, Denver doesn't appear too worried.

Zach Lowe recently dove into some feelings in and around the Nuggets during a recent episode of The Zach Lowe Show surrounding the state of their season and the injuries that have come with it, revealing that Denver, once healthy, is still a prime title contender to keep an eye on, and should still be able to come to fruition in due time.

"I don't think the Nuggets care much about seeding... having talked to a bunch of their people in the last couple of days here," Lowe said. "In fact, if they somehow ended up [at the sixth seed], at the end of the season, which I think is wildly pessimistic, but just say its worst case scenario, they end up in six. Being on the opposite side of the bracket from Oklahoma City is not a bad consolation prize for them."

"I don't think they care about any of this, because I do get the sense... I think they're an inner circle title contender. They think they're an inner circle title contender when they get healthy, and I think they're really excited about what this team could be when they get [Christian] Braun, [Aaron] Gordon, [Nikola] Jokic, [Cam] Johnson, back. I think they were excited about what Cam Johnson was developing into within their system in the last couple weeks before he got hurt. And I think they're hopeful they're gonna learn something about [Jalen] Pickett, DaRon [Holmes], [Peyton] Watson is going to be able to stretch himself."

"I think this team, they were the biggest threat to Oklahoma City before the season, and despite what the Spurs just did to Oklahoma City, I think Denver is the second best team in the NBA, and really not that far from Oklahoma City, when they're all healthy, because they have the ultimate trump card, and it's the Big Fella."