How the Denver Nuggets finally reached the NBA’s mountaintop by not chasing the stars

DENVER — Nearly six years before Nikola Jokić’s coronation and Jamal Murray’s redemption, before all that champagne flowed inside the Ball Arena where the Denver Nuggets’ streak of 45 championship-less NBA seasons came to a blissful end on Monday night with their Game 5 win over Miami to win the NBA Finals, they had a chance to trade for the kind of star player who likely never would have come their way in free agency: Kyrie Irving. Advertisement This was hardly the only time the mid-market franchise faced a fork in the road. Not even close. From the time former…