Projecting the five best NBA lineups for the 2023-24 season
2. Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic
The 2023 NBA Champions were powered by the best five-man lineup in the league (shocker). Their core five of Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic sported a plus-12.95 net rating, 127.4 offensive rating, and 114.4 defensive rating in 706 minutes. In the playoffs, they played 376 of the Nuggets’ 965 total minutes and produced a net rating of plus-7.54, an offensive rating of 120.7, and a defensive rating of 113.2. While other units produced better net ratings, the Nuggets’ core did it over the long haul.
Nikola Jokic is a one-man net rating machine. He has never had a negative on-court net rating or on-off net rating in his career, and in 2022-23 he took it to new heights with a career-best plus-12.0 on-court net rating and a comimical plus-22.0 on-off net rating. He’s the best player in the world, and contrary to popular belief, it was clear he was a special player the moment he set foot in the league.
While Jokic is the hub that makes everything tick, his supporting cast is perfectly calibrated to take advantage of his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Murray has a perfect understanding of when to shoot and pass off of Jokic, Caldwell-Pope is an elite 3-and-D wing, Michael Porter Jr. has an unblockable knockdown jumper, and Aaron Gordon is an elite versatile defender who punishes mismatches. If there’s a lesson to be learned in roster building, outside of getting talent, it’s to give your star every chance to shine.
The scary thing for the rest of the league is the Nuggets’ core is in no danger of aging out of their dominance anytime soon. Only Caldwell-Pope is over 30, and Jokic and Gordon are still 28. There is a lot of tread still on these tires, and while it’s unlikely this core will lead the league in net rating, they are the odds-on favorites to lead it in point differential.