The Denver Nuggets open the 2026 NBA Cup on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns, and the game already carries more weight than a normal early-season meeting. Denver is 2-2 and about to play its fifth game of the season, with only four Group Play games to shape its path forward.
That is why the search around Nuggets vs Suns is about more than a single matchup. After every Group Play game, the top team in each group advances to the Knockout Rounds, and one wild card from each conference moves on as well. For Denver, the margin is thin, and Friday is one of the chances to build one of the wins that could matter later.
The scale of the prize is clear enough. Each player on the winning NBA Cup team receives just above $600,000, a number that makes every possession feel a little heavier in the early stages of the tournament. The Nuggets also enter with a reputation they have not fully matched yet this season. They had the NBA's top-ranked offense last season, but outside of a 141-point outing in their overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans, they have not scored more than 114 points in a game this season.
That is the part that keeps this from being a simple projection exercise. Denver may be the more dangerous offensive team on paper, but it has not found consistent scoring beyond that one outlier. On Friday, Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic could go for 35 or more points, but Denver may need both of them to be sharp if it wants the kind of road win that changes the mood around the start it has made.
The Suns are the other reason the matchup has drawn attention. They have given up 122 or more points in every game this season, which makes them vulnerable if Denver’s offense finally breaks out again. But the NBA Cup format adds pressure that a regular-season game would not carry, because the Nuggets have so few Group Play chances to separate themselves from the field.
Friday night does not decide the group, but it can define the path. If Denver handles the Suns, it gives itself an early result that can matter in a race where every game counts and the schedule does not leave much room to recover from a slow start.
