The Denver Nuggets will face the Phoenix Suns on Friday night in the opening game of the 2026 NBA Cup, a first-night matchup that already carries group-play weight. Denver is 2-2 after four games in the 2026-27 season, and this one counts in a format where every result matters.
The Nuggets are in a group with the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, and only the top team advances to the Knockout Rounds. One wild card from each conference moves on too, but Denver only gets four Group Play games, so Friday is not the kind of night a team can afford to treat casually.
That urgency matters because the Nuggets came into the season with the NBA's top-ranked offense last year, yet they have not scored more than 114 points in a game this season outside of a 141-point overtime win against the New Orleans Pelicans. Phoenix has had the opposite problem, giving up 122 or more points in every game so far, which is why the matchup carries the feel of an early test for both teams' identity.
Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic are the two Denver players who could each go for 35 or more points on Friday night, and that is where the game can turn. If the Nuggets are going to make their four-game path through Group Play count, they may need one of them to produce the kind of scoring burst that has been missing from Denver's non-overtime games this season.
The NBA Cup also brings money into the equation, with each player on the winning team set to receive just above $600,000. That does not decide a game, but it explains why Friday night is more than a regular-season opener dressed up in different branding: for Denver, the Suns Game is an early chance to take control of a short schedule that leaves little room to recover from a loss.
