Suns Rival Tabbed Most Likely Team to Decline This Season

The Phoenix Suns are one of many teams hoping to emerge out of a tough western conference that features enough stars to fill a constellation.

Phoenix assembled more of their own big names over the last few months with acquisitions of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to co-star alongside Devin Booker in the Valley in hopes of winning a franchise-first NBA title.

Will it be enough to get past the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets?

The Nuggets were head and shoulders above the rest of the league during their postseason run last year and hope to accomplish the rare back-to-back title feat that's only been done a handful of times since the turn of the millennium.

However, not everybody is sold on Denver's chances - ESPN crowned them as one of four teams that are most likely to decline for the 2023-24 season.

Kevin Pelton: "After playing the previous two postseasons without injured guard Jamal Murray, the Nuggets were owed some good fortune in 2022-23 and got it en route to a championship. Denver went 17-8 (.680) in games decided by five points or fewer, the league's second-best winning percentage.

"Based on points scored and allowed, we'd have expected the Nuggets to win 49 or 50 games. And that's despite opponents hitting just 34% of their 3-point attempts, third lowest in the NBA behind the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers.

"Fans in Denver would rightfully point out, in part because of those factors, that the Nuggets took their foot off the gas late in the season. After beating the Memphis Grizzlies in early March to all but lock up the top spot in the Western Conference, Denver went 8-10 the rest of the way. Through that point, the Nuggets' points scored and allowed were typical of a 53-win team, exactly the number of victories they ended up with.

"It's also worth noting that these critiques apply only to the regular season. Denver outscored opponents by a dominant 8.3 points per game during the title run. Still, I think it's reasonable to expect the Nuggets to win slightly fewer games in 2023-24."

So, perhaps not a drastic drop-off from the prior year, but still significant enough to potentially impact standings and just maybe see the Suns host a playoff series with homecourt advantage, should the two cross paths.

On SI Sportsbook, the Nuggets are still tied for the highest odds to win the NBA Finals next year at +450 while the Suns aren't far behind with +600 odds.