The Denver Nuggets acquired Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from the Washington Wizards last offseason, but they previously pursued a trade for him at the 2022 trade deadline.

There was a three-way trade discussed that also involved the Oklahoma City Thunder that would have sent Caldwell-Pope to the Nuggets in time for last year's playoffs.

The Nuggets traded Monte Morris and Will Barton as part of the package for Caldwell-Pope.

“You have to have positionless guys, guys who can contain the ball and make shots,” Calvin Booth told Yahoo Sports. “Everybody wants two-way players, but [Jokić] likes to play with guys who know how to play basketball the right way.”

The Denver Nuggets opened as -360 favorites against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals at Caesars Sportsbook.

The Nuggets are also 8-point favorites at home for Game 1.

The Heat were at one point 200-1 longshots for the NBA title before they beat the Bulls in the play-in game.

Nikola Jokic is also listed at -125 to average a triple double in the series. 

Tyler Herro is reportedly targeting a return in Game 3. 

The Western Conference Finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers averaged 7.9 million viewers across ABC and ESPN.

The number represents the most-watched conference finals since 2018.

It is also an 18% increase from last year's Warriors/Mavs series.

Monday's Game 4 averaged 8.21 million viewers on ESPN, making it the sixth-largest audience of this postseason. 

After advancing to The Finals for the first time in his career, Nikola Jokic was asked how winning Western Conference Finals MVP compares to winning two regular season MVPs. 

"To be honest, this is just -- I don't know, I don't think about MVPs anymore," said Jokic. "I think people are just mean and saying that [Joel] Embiid shouldn't have won it. I think he should have won it. I think he was playing, if you watch it, extremely, extremely tough basketball through the whole season.

"I don't want to say a player doesn't mean that, but he was really amazing in 82 games or however many games he played."

Jamal Murray will become eligible for a three-year, $144 million contract extension with the Denver Nuggets this offseason.

Murray is now two years removed from this torn ACL and enters the Finals averaging 27.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists with a PER of 24.2 through the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Murray could wait on an extension in case he makes an All-NBA team in 2024 as he would then become supermax eligible. Murray cannot become a free agent until 2025.

The Denver Nuggets have advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history with their 113-111 Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Nuggets overcame a 15-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Lakers 36-16 to take control of the game. Denver then withstood a late rally from the Lakers and suffocated LeBron James on the final play of the game.

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. Jokic was also named Western Conference Finals MVP.

James had 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a losing effort for the Lakers. James scored 30 points in the first half. 

The Nuggets will play the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals with the Miami Heat currently up 3-0 over the Boston Celtics. The Finals will begin on Thursday, June 1st. 

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Kevin Pelton of ESPN (@kpelton) break down the NBA’s two Conference Finals.

They discuss how the Heat and Nuggets earned their 3-0 series leads, how Celtics management should respond to a potential series loss, what a potential Nuggets/Heat NBA Finals could look like and much more.

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Jeff Green knows the Denver Nuggets have a chance to do something special on Monday night. Green also knows that his Nuggets can't afford to give the Los Angeles Lakers a chance to feel good with a Game 4 victory.

“We have to end it. We can’t give (LeBron James) life. Tomorrow, it has to end, "Green said.

Green said Nuggets coach Michael Malone's message to the team was a simple one. Green said Malone told his team "Win tomorrow."

Malone added to that by saying, “Talk is cheap. We’ve got to go in there and do it. We had the same opportunity against Minnesota and lost Game 4.”

Jamal Murray again was outstanding for the Denver Nuggets in Game 3, giving them a 3-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Nuggets are one win away from their first appearance in the Finals in franchise history, but their mission remains to win it all.

"Just keeping everybody in the moment," Murray said. "Not letting it slip away. You need 16 wins to win a championship and we got five more to go and the Lakers are in our way and they are going to do everything in their power to come back and fight."

Game 2 of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets averaged a 4.1 rating with 7.66 millions viewers on ESPN.

The number represents the highest rated and most watched conference game since 2019.

The game peaked at 9.45 million viewers.

This postseason now has the most games averaging over seven million viewers prior to the NBA Finals since 2018.