Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray might play for a championship this year. But if they do, it will be Serbia vs. Canada with a gold medal on the line at the Summer Olympics, not the Larry O’Brien Trophy up for grabs in the NBA Finals.

The NBA crown weighs heavy on the defending champions. The Nuggets have lost their mojo and look as if they could use a nap. Denver, banged up physically and emotionally fatigued, is stuck in a February funk.

“We have a bull’s-eye on our back now,” coach Michael Malone said Wednesday, after the Nuggets blew a lead late at home in the fourth quarter and got humbled 102-98 by Sacramento to drop their third game in a row.

The vibe on this Denver team ain’t what it used to be – or anywhere close to where it needs to be when the playoffs begin in two months. Although the Nuggets are blessed with the best basketball player on the planet, it takes more than a Joker to build a dynasty.

“You’ve got to have that bunker mentality and … that’s really true when you’ve just won (a championship), because everybody’s coming for you, everyone’s coming for your neck.” Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown said. “There are no nights off. You’re a measuring stick for everybody.”

It’s worth taking notes when Brown speaks. Over the course of more than three decades, he has seen some stuff in this league. Way back in 1994, when center Dikembe Mutombo was floored by emotion after the Nuggets upset Seattle in the playoffs, Brown was a young video assistant for Denver, sporting a bad haircut and funky glasses (by his own admission).

But a former basketball geek matured quite nicely, thank you. Brown has grown into one of the league’s more successful coaches, recording nearly 400 victories during head coaching stints with the Cavaliers, Lakers and Kings, as well as winning four championship rings as an assistant with the both Twin Tower Spurs and a Warriors’ dynasty built around Steph Curry.

So this is what Brown can do for you: Teach a course in all the little cracks that can weaken a champion’s psyche. After planting a flag on the NBA mountaintop, the climb only gets steeper in a quest to repeat.

“It’s harder, because of the scrutiny you go through,” Brown said.

“There’s a part of you that thinks, “Hey, we’re NBA champs. We can turn it on at this point or that point.’ But it’s hard to do that in this league, especially as talented as it is.”

As the Nuggets head into the NBA All-Star break, with 55 of 82 regular-season games already in the books, they remain second only to Boston in the minds of Las Vegas bookmakers as the favorite to win this year’s championship.

Trouble lurks.

“Look at the standings. We’ve lost three in a row and went from being tied for first (in the West) to being, I don’t know, (2.5) games out of first place,” Malone said. “Minnesota’s playing at a high level, OKC is playing at a high level, the Clippers are playing at a high level. Then you have teams like Phoenix, like Dallas, like New Orleans, like Sacramento, who are all waiting for somebody to drop. So if you’re thinking that there’s a switch that we can just turn on, now you’re going to drop down to a feeding frenzy.”

On too many nights, Denver simply doesn’t pass the eye test as a truly legit contender, While this loss to the Kings was the rare instance when Jokic didn’t perform at 11 on a scale of 10, Murray can’t stay healthy long enough to get on roll, the greatness of Michael Porter Jr. is too capricious and the bench has yet to fill the big hole left by the departure of Bruce Brown.

Going back-to-back is not for the faint of heart.

“You can talk to people about how hard it is,” Malone said. “But you’ve got to walk that. You’ve got to go through it yourself to really understand it. We played into June. And our guys that were here last year are definitely physically, mentally and emotionally worn out. We played a lot of basketball. ”

Jokic has yet to give a rock-solid commitment to Serbia, which finished second to Germany last summer in the FIBA World Cup, for his participation in Paris. But, if the Nuggets don’t make a deep playoff run, his body and mind would have time to rejuvenate prior to the opening of the Summer Games in late July.

When the Nuggets visited Toronto in December, Murray indicated he’s itching at the chance to play alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and show the world that Canada can be as dominant on the world stage in hoops as it is in hockey.

“We’ve got enough guys to go out there and compete for gold,” Murray said.

By declaring the Nuggets’ title defense dead on arrival before the playoffs begin, I’ve done my public service with a little bulletin-board material.

Hey, it’s the least I could do. You’re very welcome.

But I’d be willing to wager Joker and Jamal have a better shot in 2024 at winning Olympic gold than repeating as NBA champs.

Nugget center Nikola Jokic goes up against Kings center Domantas Sabonis in the first quarter of a game against the Kings at Ball Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)