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8. Nikola Jokic & Jamal Murray

One of the youngest duos in the league, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are blossoming into the two best players on a very talented Denver Nuggets team led by Mike Malone. Last season, Jokic entered the season as an All-Star candidate and ended the regular season as an outside shot at MVP.

Murray, on the other hand, improved once more in his third season in the NBA, but his consistency still remains a question. If he can put the pieces together, then this duo has a chance to lead the Nuggets to their deepest run in the playoffs since 2008/09 when the team made the Western Conference Finals.

Both have the ability to be the focal point of an offense, as well as bring the ball up the court and facilitate. The duo combined for 12.1 assists per game, with Jokic dishing out a career-high 7.3 assists per game – an insane number of assists per game for a center.

The fact both are under the age of 25 is what puts them ahead of McCollum and Lillard, if only just. It seems wrong, considering that the Blazers knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs last year, but the ceiling for Murray and Jokic feels slightly higher than their Pacific North-West counterparts.

Murray and Jokic led the Nuggets to the second-best record in the West and a trip to the second round of the playoffs. This year, they’ll be hoping for a little more.