The Nuggets are less than two years removed from winning an NBA title, but they’re facing difficulties on the road to the NBA Playoffs.
While Nikola Jokic continues to display his all-time greatness on a nightly basis, Denver has been dealing with several injuries to key players and is struggling to find ways to win. As such, the Nuggets no longer control their destiny when it comes to most playoff seeding scenarios. Complicating matters is the late-season firing of head coach Michael Malone, which is tied for the latest head coach firing in NBA history.
Denver will be a postseason team, but it is currently in danger of falling into the Play-In Tournament range. With that comes the added pressure of potential elimination in the event of one or two off performances.
Things aren’t all bleak for the Nuggets, as Jokic’s presence is often enough to get the team over the hump. Couple that with Jamal Murray potentially returning to the lineup, and you have a team that will be scary if things click at the right time. With multiple factors at play, here’s the situation that faces Denver.
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Nuggets playoff scenarios 2025
The Nuggets have clinched a postseason berth but have not yet clinched a top-six spot in the NBA Playoffs.
Heading into its final three games, Denver can finish as high as fourth and as low as eighth in the Western Conference. The Nuggets are currently most likely to finish in sixth or seventh in the Western Conference standings, thanks to tiebreakers and a logjam between the fourth and eighth seeds.
While a multi-team tie is more complicated to sift through, here are Denver’s head-to-head records with relevant teams in the event of a two-way tie: Warriors (2-1), Clippers (2-2), Lakers (2-2), Grizzlies (1-1) and Timberwolves (0-4).
The Nuggets face the Grizzlies in the season’s penultimate game — the winner receives the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Nuggets standings 2025
| Seed | Team | Record | Games Back |
| 1. | Thunder – X | 66-14 | — |
| 2. | Rockets – X | 52-28 | 14.0 |
| 3. | Lakers – X | 49-31 | 17.0 |
| 4. | Nuggets | 48-32 | 18.0 |
| 5. | Clippers | 48-32 | 18.0 |
| 6. | Warriors | 47-33 | 19.0 |
| 7. | Grizzlies | 47-33 | 19.0 |
| 8. | Timberwolves | 47-33 | 19.0 |
| 9. | Kings | 39-41 | 27.0 |
| 10. | Mavericks | 38-42 | 28.0 |
X = clinched playoff spot
Nuggets remaining schedule
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) | TV channel |
| April 11 | vs. Grizzlies | 9 p.m. | — |
| April 13 | at Rockets | 3:30 p.m. | — |
Nuggets potential playoff opponents
Because of a wide range of potential finishes in the standings, the Nuggets have a wide range of potential postseason opponents.
The Nuggets could face any one of the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and Grizzlies. In some cases, it would be a first-round playoff matchup while in others, it would be the 7-vs-8 matchup in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
If Denver is a Play-In Tournament team, it then could face the Thunder or Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
