DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets haven't been the same since blowing a chance to beat their nemesis in double-overtime on April 2.
They've dropped three straight since a 140-139 heartbreaker that the Minnesota Timberwolves stole from them after Russell Westbrook missed an uncontested layup to seal it, then fouled Nickeil Alexander-Walker on a 3-pointer with a tenth of a second left and Denver clinging to a one-point lead.
Alexander-Walker sank two free throws to run Minnesota's winning streak over Denver to six games and ruin Nikola Jokic's career-best 61-point performance that night.
The Nuggets lost to San Antonio the next night with all five starters sitting out, then dropped a game at Golden State despite a 44-point first quarter. On Sunday night, they blew a 13-point first-half lead and committed three crucial turnovers down the stretch in their 125-120 loss to the short-handed Indiana Pacers that saddled the Nuggets with their first four-game skid of the season.
“I don't know if I would say there's been a hangover,” coach Michael Malone said. “We were up tonight. We got up by 13. We weren't able to hold on. We were up in Golden State, weren't able to hold on. So, I don't know if it's a hangover necessarily, but whatever it is we've got to find a way to get this out of our system.”
They'll likely have to do it without point guard Jamal Murray, who missed his fifth consecutive game with a pulled right hamstring Sunday night.
Asked before tip-off Sunday if he expects Murray to be back in action by the playoffs, Malone said, “hopefully he’s able to be back by then.”
But where will the Nuggets be?
Anywhere from Ball Arena to a play-in game.
Denver is still in fourth place in the Western Conference playoff race but just a-half game out of eighth place with three games remaining.
“We've lost four in a row, in a bad moment, so I think we're a little bit down,” Jokic said. “But a win can always cheer us up or make us feel better about ourselves.”
Christian Braun, who scored a career-best 30 points against the Pacers but got tangled with Jokic on a crucial turnover with 15 seconds left and the Nuggets down two, said he trusts the Nuggets can still straighten things out in time to make a run in the postseason.
“We get to the playoffs I know this team can compete with anybody," Braun said. "We've got to go in there with momentum. We've got to go in there playing the right way. We've got to find a way to find some toughness.
“We've got to get back to who we are and we've got to find ourselves in these last three games. Like I said, it's not over or anything like that. But we do got to get some momentum.”
The Nuggets visit Sacramento on Wednesday night, then host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night before wrapping things up Sunday at Houston.
Before the game, Malone said the reason he's stuck with Westbrook despite his blunders of late is that he looks at his whole body of work this season, not the last week's foibles.
“We wouldn’t be where we are right now, in fourth place with four games to go, if it wasn’t for Russell this year,” Malone said.
After the game, the Nuggets said Westbrook had been admonished by the league for declining post-game interviews and that he was available in the locker room.
But Westbrook's comments recalled Marshawn Lynch's “I'm just here so I won't get fined,” routine.
Q: Is there a sense of urgency in this locker room to avoid the play-in?
“I don't know, man, you know, unsure.”
Q: Malone mentioned your value as a veteran. What can you draw from to help this team?
“I don't know. I don't have the answer for you, man. I wish I did. But unfortunately, I don't.”
Q: What's frustrating you most right now?
“Um, probably just losing.”
Q: Where's the confidence this group can figure something out these next three games?
“I hope it's high. I can't speak for everybody in the locker room. But my head stays high, get ready for Wednesday.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, right, drives past Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun, left, in the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic reacts after missing last-second, 3-point basket- attempt in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook reacts after hitting a 3-point basket against the Indiana Pacers in the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball owners proposed banning high school players from signing with major league teams, raising the age for international amateurs and slashing the money spent on signing bonuses in negotiations Thursday for a new collective bargaining agreement.
The amateur draft for players residing in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would be cut from 20 rounds to 12 beginning in 2027 under the proposal Major League Baseball made during a bargaining session with the players' association. An identical 12-round draft would be started for international prospects, a proposal the union has rejected in the past.
Starting in 2028, a prospect for the amateur draft would have to be at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class — a restriction that also would eliminate players who completed their first year of junior college.
The amateur draft started in 1965, high schoolers have been eligible along with college players who are in or have just finished their junior years.
Raising signing ages would likely lead to players being older when they become eligible for free agency, which currently requires six years of major league service.
MLB cited increased revenue in college baseball as reasoning. In addition, MLB said 75% of high schoolers signed from 2012-19 did not reach the major leagues.
“Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate," MLB said in a statement. “By creating a draft system centered around college-aged players and making most college players eligible one year earlier, more players will benefit from both a college education and an elite development environment while reaching professional baseball — and ultimately the major leagues — more quickly.”
MLB said it will not seek to reduce the 120 minor league teams in the top four levels when it negotiates new professional development licenses in 2030 to replace expiring 10-year deals. It would cap bonuses for undrafted players at $10,000 — Middle Tennessee two-way player Trace Phillips was bypassed in the draft last July and signed with Tampa Bay for $629,200.
For international amateurs, the age to sign would be raised to 18 on the Sept. 1 of their signing year, up from 17.
“The game's greatest stars are precocious talents. We always want to have a great window for them,” said Scott Boras, baseball's most high-profile agent. “International markets recognize this, as well. When you bar a labor force from opportunity in America, it is not an American concept.”
Each separate draft would have $200 million in signing pools in 2027. There would be hard caps for each draft.
Teams would be able to trade draft picks but a club couldn't trade its first-round pick in consecutive drafts. A team couldn't acquire more than three additional selections among the first three rounds.
Spending on signing bonuses for players eligible for the 2025 amateur draft totaled about $402 million and signing bonus pools for 2026 increased by 2.5%.
Each team would have the same amount to spend under the proposal rather than the current system which gives higher pools to teams with poorer records in the previous year. Pittsburgh is at just over $19 million this year and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at slightly under $4 million. Teams currently can go over their pools and often do as much as 5%.
Teams have spent about $193 million on signing bonus for international amateurs in 2026. The current signing period runs from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15 each year, but the initial international draft would be no earlier than September 2027 and no later than March 2028.
MLB proposed eliminating competitive balance round picks that began in 2023 and cutting the draft lottery that started in 2023 from the top six picks to four.
Bargaining began May 13 and the sides exchanged initial proposals two weeks later as management proposed a salary cap for the first time since 1994, which resulted in a 7 1/2-month strike and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years,
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Attorney Bruce Meyer, the current interim executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, speaks at a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred answers questions during a news conference at the MLB winter meetings, Dec. 8, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)
