Charles Barkley has already expressed concern about a certain Western Conference powerhouse just one game into the 2024-25 season.

Barkley spoke candidly on TNT's "Inside The NBA" after Thursday's slate of NBA games. The Hall of Famer singled out the Denver Nuggets as a team that "might be in trouble" after their 102-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Ball Arena.

"The team that might be in trouble might be the Nuggets," said Barkley. "Because they were pretty much last in bench last year and I saw nothing on that bench tonight. And because the West is better. My Suns are better. New Orleans is better. Memphis is going to be better. ... The Nuggets, they're going to have to find a bench. They're going to have to do something."

It's hard to argue with Barkley given that Denver's bench mustered a measly 16 points Thursday against the Thunder. In contrast, all five of the Nuggets' starters scored at least 12 points. The team's most high-profile offseason acquisition, Russell Westbrook, finished with just six points off the bench on 2/10 shooting from the field.

The Nuggets already had one of the thinnest benches in the NBA last season. During the 2023-24 campaign, Denver finished 25th in bench scoring at 29.4 points per game. This season, the Nuggets' depth got depleted even further with the offseason departures of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson.

Barring Michael Malone playing Nikola Jokic 48 minutes per game, the Nuggets may need to find a way to shore up their bench like Barkley said. On the other hand, Barkley had a much more optimistic prediction about the Thunder team that dominated Jokic's Nuggets.

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