ESPN asked why Monday’s gritty win over Golden State was a “bad look for the Nuggets”

The short-handed Denver Nuggets pulled off an immaculate win on the road against the Golden State Warriors Monday night. Without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray or Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon’s 38 points and Russell Westbrook’s triple double led the way to a 114-105 win.

This morning, instead of talking about Gordon, Westbrook or anyone else that put in positive work for the Nuggets, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps talked about how the Nuggets sitting their marquee players was bad for the league.

"It's a horrible look for the league."

—@TimBontemps on the Nuggets not playing Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray vs. the Warriors pic.twitter.com/WQ3ElVeQce

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 18, 2025

Whether or not Bontemps missed the news that Murray rolled his ankle in Saturday’s loss against the Wizards or the fact that Jokic was wearing a shooting sleeve on his right arm because his elbow was bothering him, this was a very ignorant take that showed he hadn’t been keeping up with what was going on in Denver.

Jamal Murray hurt. Limping off his right ankle after he stepped on another foot. Hopefully it’s just a turn. He’s off the floor.

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) March 16, 2025

By the way, Jokic gave his reasoning earlier this season for why doesn’t tend to wear arm sleeves, so Saturday’s decision to do show proved he was battling discomfort in the elbow.

Jokic is the last person on the Nuggets to be used as an example for load management. In his ten seasons in the NBA, he has never played less than 69 games in a season, and has played in at least 79 games in three seasons (including last year’s MVP season when he averaged 34.6 minutes per game).

The Nuggets as a whole are a bad example to use for load management. This isn’t the Philadelphia 76ers or the Los Angeles Clippers sitting their stars on the second night of a back-to-back. When the Nuggets’ players are somewhat healthy, they play.

Michael Malone even admitted last year that he ran his players into the ground down the stretch in pursuit of the No. 2 seed in the 2024 Western Conference Playoffs. There is no pedigree of load management in Denver’s organization, and it surely didn’t start last night.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were recently investigated by the NBA for potentially violating league’s player participation policy. In that game, while it wasn’t against a prominent opponent on national television, the Thunder sat the entire starting lineup to get those players some rest. All five starters played in the following game, while four of the five played in the game prior.

These are two different scenarios. Denver’s players were actually hurt while Oklahoma City’s were resting (no disrespect to OKC, that’s just the nature of the situation). Also, Aaron Gordon played 37 minutes on a calf and ankle that aren’t 100%.

For Denver, the hope is to have their core guys back for Wednesday’s nationally televised matchup on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Nuggets currently hold a one-game lead over the Lakers for third place in the Western Conference heading into Wednesday’s clash.