Last game, Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets made some waves by reinserting Aaron Gordon into the starting lineup and benching Christian Braun. It was an interesting choice, given the way Braun has played of late. Some have questioned why it happened and whether it was the right decision.
Braun was Denver’s opening night starter at shooting guard and had started every game he played until Wednesday. It would have been easy for Malone to simply go back to the original starting lineup.
In his postgame press conference last Wednesday night, Malone shared that the decision was a tough one, and he decided to bench Braun instead of Russell Westbrook. Instead of going back to Denver’s original plan, Malone used new information generated from this season to keep Westbrook on the floor next to Nikola Jokic since the two have played so well together.
In the 2024-25 season, a grand total of 159 duos have shared the floor for at least the 897 minutes that Jokic and Westbrook have played together. Among those 159 duos, here are the groups with the highest Net Ratings:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander + Cason Wallace: 924 minutes, +15.5 Net Rating
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander + Lu Dort: 1,113 minutes, +15.2 Net Rating
- Nikola Jokic + Michael Porter Jr.: 1,135 minutes, +13.6 Net Rating
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander + Jalen Williams, 989 minutes, +12.5 Net Rating
- Donovan Mitchell + Evan Mobley: 1,101 minutes, +11.6 Net Rating
- Nikola Jokic + Russell Westbrook: 897 minutes, +11.4 Net Rating
- Nikola Jokic + Christian Braun: 1,153 minutes, +11.3 Net Rating
(On an aside Michael Porter Jr. hasn’t been great lately, but it’s extremely evident how important his shooting is for the Nuggets when looking at lineup data. According to Cleaning the Glass, Jokic lineups have just a +2.7 Net Rating with Porter on the bench. That’s a major factor in keeping Denver’s spacing from crashing down.)
It’s a fascinating dynamic. Yes Westbrook is fantastic with Jokic, but the numbers have normalized of late with three losses on this road trip. Does that negate the incredible numbers we’ve seen when Jokic and Westbrook share the floor? No.
Westbrook has certainly helped get the best out of Jokic as a scorer. When those two share the floor, Jokic’s usage rate goes from 30.1% with him to 28.1% without him. Jokic’s True Shooting is also 67.1% with Westbrook and 63.1% without him. Westbrook feeds Jokic the ball more than anyone he’s ever played with, including Jamal Murray.
The other factor is defense. Westbrook’s defensive energy, rebounding, and hunting for steals has helped the Nuggets play more up tempo on that end. Sometimes, Westbrook’s gambles lead to open shots, but he’s still making a positive impact on that end of the floor.
So, for a Nuggets team that needs to get better defensively while maximizing the Jokic minutes, keeping Westbrook in the starting lineup is a reasonable choice.
This isn’t a permanent change. Michael Malone will have every opportunity to change his mind in the coming months, especially when the playoffs roll around. To that point, the starting lineup could theoretically change within the next week.
But if anyone deserves credit for the Nuggets surviving the first half of the season, it’s Russell Westbrook. Michael Malone realizes that and is rewarding him. Let’s see if Denver can get back to winning with him out there with Denver’s Core Four.