The situation of the Western Conference championship is becoming more and more obvious! The three teams that have quietly risen, challenge the Lakers and the Warriors

On July 1, the 2025 NBA Western Conference Championship Competition has gradually become clear. After just one day of changes, a three-legged situation has now formed. However, it is surprising that those teams that act low-key and are ready to go are not LeBron James' Lakers or Golden State Warriors.

In this year's offseason, the NBA showed the characteristics of heavy thunder and small raindrops, with few super shocking transactions. But some teams are silently making up for the game. The Rockets have reached 12 deals in just half a month, becoming one of the favorites in the Western Conference championship. The Rockets have shown great strength by signing back Capela and introducing a series of actions such as Finney Smith and Durant. In addition, they retained the head coach and renewed Jabarri Smith and VanVleet in a salary cut, which undoubtedly highlighted their competitiveness. In the upcoming season, the Rockets will obviously be the core force in the Western Conference championship, and it is also their best chance to win the championship. They must try to bring the championship back to Houston while Durant is still in shape.

However, another strong team in the championship is the Thunder, who just won the championship. As the second party in the three-legged team, the Thunder team is intact and can even further enhance its strength. If they want, they can consider using Chet as a bargaining chip to trade Antetokounmpo, so that the Thunder's performance will be even better.

However, the third contender is not the Lakers. So far, they have failed to complete any major deals, which seems quite embarrassing. The Lakers' only operation was to tear down the middle class and sign a two-year 12 million contract with Laravia, which made James quite dissatisfied with this and even wavered with his departure. His agent Ritchie publicly stated that he would pay attention to the development trends of the Lakers to determine the future direction, which fully demonstrates the unsatisfactory operation of the Lakers.

Similarly, the Warriors did not cash in too many important deals during this period, and just kept Kuminga and wanted him to fight for another year. For them, such a strategy is not enough to establish the status of the championship.

In fact, the real third pole in the West is the Nuggets led by Jokic, who quietly rise up through clever layout. The Nuggets successfully introduced Bruce Brown, who played an important role in the 2023 championship game with a great value deal, and signed a player in this role with a basic salary, which undoubtedly achieved a key strengthening. The depth of their substitute lineup has been improved, and the addition of Brown has improved the overall strength of the Nuggets.

In addition, the Nuggets also won Cameron Johnson, a shooter who averaged 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game. His 39% shooting percentage gave the Nuggets stronger firepower support. With these two signings, the Nuggets' core lineup has become strong and its substitute strength has also improved significantly. Compared with last season, the Nuggets have significantly enhanced their competitiveness.

They not only effectively cleaned up some of the redundant staff, but also cut off their relationship with Westbrook and Porter in tears, solving the contract burden. This series of operations helped them save a lot of luxury tax funds and free up space to chase star players. Therefore, the Nuggets undoubtedly become a three-legged stealth competitor with potential to surpass the Thunder and the Rockets