DNVR Denver Nuggets Podcast
Are the Minnesota Timberwolves still the Nuggets biggest rival?
02 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: Are the Timberwolves still considered the Nuggets' biggest rivals?
Our other topic today, and it's our headline topic, this happens every two or three years, where I don't know what degree of hatred stirs in me most. Yeah. Are the Wolves still the Nuggets' biggest rivalry? I think maybe, but after that OKC game and Lou Dort, dirty-ass Lou Dort and all this stuff, I'm not so sure. And then the Lakers are still there.
It might be the first-round matchup with the Nuggets. I don't really like Houston. Wemby's coming. Are the Wolf still the number one rival to the Denver Nuggets in your mind? No.
Chapter 2: What recent events have shifted the rivalry dynamics between the Nuggets and the Timberwolves?
Really? No. It's the Thunder. It is so clearly the Thunder. Did this happen this weekend? Yes. All right, let's go. Two days ago was when this flipped, I think, officially. It had been the Wolves for a while, and rightfully so.
Nuggets Thunder coming off a playoff series, a seven-game playoff series that was an absolute war, and coming off that game the other night, and, you know, the Lou Dort incident magnified it even more, I think. I think that even made it more of a rivalry, so... To me, it's the Thunder, I think pretty clearly right now. And I mean, yes, Minnesota would be a tough playoff series.
No doubt there'd be a lot of emotions in that. It would not be more emotional, I feel like, than Nuggets Thunder round two playoff series. Man, what do you think, Dev? For me, it's still the Thunder. I mean, sorry, sorry, the Timberwolves. It's the Timberwolves. They're just too intertwined, too connected.
Chapter 3: How do the Thunder compare to the Timberwolves as rivals for the Nuggets?
You have Tim Connolly factor. I still think about Game 82. I think that that's just enshrined in me. Until you beat this team in the playoffs, I think that that's just there. But I just feel like there's a real thing there. Anthony Edwards is trash-talking after every single game. They have Bones Highland now. It's not a big factor, but it's something there.
There's something about the Timberwolves. And it just seems likely that you're going to end up playing them. So I think that that adds to it. So I would go with the Timberwolves as the team that I think is the rivalry. I think this one's headed to OT for me. I'm not sure. The Thunder, I feel like you did. That game just got me where I'm like, you know what? This is what it is now.
But maybe I feel that way after tonight. I mean, the Timberwolves still have a lot of players that, you know, get your blood boiling and the Nuggets still have to get them back.
Chapter 4: What emotions are tied to a potential Nuggets vs. Timberwolves playoff matchup?
But they have to get the Thunder back too and... The thing that was so annoying, it's easy for you to just admonish your own guys when they do something bad. You know, we do it all the time on this show. People say sometimes we're too hard. They think we hate Jokic even sometimes. We talked about his flopping this year and how it went to a different level. We don't like it.
The way that Royce White, or who is it? What's his name? Royce. What is his name? Royce Young. Royce Young. Oh, the Thunder employee? Thunder employee. And all of the Thunder media were just like, that's a normal screen. I don't even know what we're talking about. It's a weird thing. You're like, literally nobody else on Earth thought that. Nobody else thought that.
Chapter 5: How does Anthony Edwards influence the Timberwolves-Nuggets rivalry?
I'm just like, you know what? We got to get them. Now I want the Thunder in the playoffs. I want the Denver to have to go through that path because you want to get them back. And I think it might be the Thunder. That being said, the Nuggets play the Lakers in the first round. I think it's the Lakers. They play the Timberwolves in the second round. I think it's the Timberwolves.
They play the Thunder. We own the Lakers, though. It's situational. We own them. I'm just saying I still hate the Lakers. Of course. I would still love to watch us humiliate them. And I'm not even kidding when I say the only reason we don't hate Houston or San Antonio quite as much yet is we haven't played them. Yeah. We haven't played them. But it's coming.
I guarantee we're going to hate the Rockets and Spurs by year's end. And if we match up in a playoff series, I promise Nuggets fans are going to hate them with the same passion they're bringing to these ones. So kind of what makes the West so good right now, you kind of hate all of the teams that are in it. That's what makes the league so good. It's very situational.
It's kind of like Big Val with my hate. Like some matchups call for more hate. Yeah. And it's just dependent on who they play when I bring that hate out. It is true.
Chapter 6: What factors contribute to the growing rivalry among Western Conference teams?
Some matchups do call for a little bit more. You got to dig deep, you know, to find the hatred that you need for it.