On Sunday, May 18, the Denver Nuggets season came to an end with a game seven loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was the second game seven that the Nuggets had played this playoffs 

To start off the playoffs, the 4th-seeded Nuggets barely scraped by with a win over the 5th-seeded Clippers. The series came with its own slate of highlight reel moments, including an Aaron Gordon buzzer-beater dunk in game four.  

While Denver and LA were in a dog fight of a series, Oklahoma quickly swept their first-round team and had a nine day rest before they had to play Denver.

Fans and analysts alike were calling the Denver-Oklahoma series a blowout before it even started. With OKC being the best team in the league and winning 68 games in the regular season, many expected them to dominate a tired Nuggets squad.

But basketball isn’t played on paper. The Nuggets ended up stealing game one in Oklahoma, with another Aaron Gordon three-point buzzer-beater. 

Despite the best efforts of the Nuggets’ starters, the team went on to fumble games four and five in the fourth quarter. In game four, Denver led by 8 going into the fourth, but hopes for the win came to a halt when the Thunder mounted an 11–0 run. 

In game five, superstar Nikola Jokic put on a masterclass, with 44 points and 15 rebounds, keeping the Nuggets competitive throughout the game. They again led by 9 points going into the fourth, but key players like Jamal Murray struggled to convert down the stretch. Murray shot just 5-of-14 from the field.

While Denver did win game six, the team faced serious health challenges. Gordon suffered a hamstring strain and Murray was battling illness. 

While Denver ended up losing the series, this team had prevailed through adversity all season. Just three games before the playoffs started, they fired their head coach, Michael Malone and GM, Calvin Booth. 

Malone had been coaching the team since 2015 and had led them to a championship in 2023. But after a 12-13 record following the All-Star game, Malone’s time in Denver came to a close. 

While no official statement was released explaining why Malone was fired, it was obvious that tensions had been rising. To Kroenke and fans, infighting on the bench was becoming too frequent to ignore. Jokic’s frustration was obvious as well. 

People from inside the team also cite a cold war between the head coach and the GM. Disagreements over player rotations, deadline decisions, and the long-term direction of the roster reportedly created a rift that widened as the season wore on. 

While the higher-ups in the organization argued, the three-time MVP was having his best season of his career. Jokic averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per game during the 2024–25 regular season. Fans and critics alike feel like the Nuggets organization is wasting Jokic’s prime years.