Denver Nuggets

• 1. Franchise Origins And ABA Years

  ›

  In 1967, a group led by Southern California businessman James Trindle was awarded one of the American Basketball Association's charter franchises. The league commissioner George Mikan suggested moving the team to Denver after Trindle failed to find a suitable arena in Kansas City. Vince Boryla became the general manager for this new franchise, which was initially named the Denver Larks. The name honored Colorado's state bird, but financial troubles loomed immediately. Before playing their first game, the league ordered the Larks to post a $100,000 performance bond or lose the franchise entirely. Hours before the deadline passed, Trindle sold a two-thirds controlling interest to Denver trucking magnate Bill Ringsby and his son for $350,000. Ringsby renamed the team the Rockets, referencing his local company called the Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines. The Rockets played at the Denver Auditorium Arena during these early years. They developed a strong fan base despite early playoff exits. Byron Beck and Larry Jones formed a solid lineup that drew crowds. Lonnie Wright signed with the Rockets during that first season. He became the first player to play professional football and basketball in the same season while playing four seasons with Denver. Spencer Haywood joined the team for the 1969, 70 season as a controversial rookie. He averaged nearly 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game in his only ABA season. Haywood was named ABA MVP, ABA rookie of the year, and the All-Star Game MVP. The team finished 51, 33 and won their division before exiting the playoffs in the second round. Just before the start of the 1970, 71 season, Haywood signed with the Seattle SuperSonics. This move resulted in the Haywood v. National Basketball Association case that allowed both NBA and ABA teams to draft collegiate underclassmen going forward.

• 2. NBA Transition And Early Struggles

  ›

  The franchise changed its name to the Nuggets on the 7th of August 1974, as a precautionary measure for moving from the ABA to the NBA. They played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets. The team joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA, NBA merger. Red McCombs bought the team in 1978. In 1979, Larry Brown left the team, helping usher in a brief decline in performance. Doug Moe became head coach in 1981 and brought a motion offense philosophy. He focused on moving the ball until someone got open without paying much attention to defense. During the 1981, 82 season, the Nuggets scored at least 100 points in every game. The NBA-record streak was halted at 136 consecutive games. That same season set the league scoring record for highest points per game average at 126.5 points. Alex English won the NBA scoring title in 1983, becoming the only Nugget to win the award despite the offensive style of Doug Moe. The team made it to the Western Conference finals in 1984, 85 but lost in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers. Kiki Vandeweghe was traded before that season to the Portland Trail Blazers for Fat Lever, Calvin Natt, and Wayne Cooper. They managed to win 54 games in the 1987, 88 season, the most they had ever won as an NBA team. However, the Mavericks eliminated the Nuggets in the second round of the 1988 NBA Playoffs. McCombs sold the team to Sidney Shlenker in 1985. Shlenker then sold the team to COMSAT in 1989. Paul Westhead replaced Doug Moe in 1990 with a run and gun style. The team collapsed from a 46-36 record and playoff spot in '88-'89 to a pitiful 20-62 record and last place in the conference.

• 3. The Carmelo Anthony Era

  ›

  In 2003, the Nuggets drafted future All-Star Carmelo Anthony with the third overall pick in the NBA draft. That same year, general manager Kiki Vandeweghe assumed duties on the 9th of August 2001. In April, the turnaround was complete as they became the first franchise in NBA history to qualify for the postseason following a sub-20-win campaign the previous year since the NBA went to an 82-game schedule. They were eliminated in the first round four games to one by the Minnesota Timberwolves. On the 28th of December 2004, head coach Jeff Bzdelik was fired and replaced by interim coach Michael Cooper. George Karl later became the permanent replacement. Karl led the team to a record of 32, 8 in the second half of the regular season. This vaulted the team into the playoffs for the second consecutive year. In the playoffs, however, the Nuggets could not survive the San Antonio Spurs. After winning game one in San Antonio, the Nuggets proceeded to lose the next four games and lost the series 4, 1. On the 19th of December 2006, the Nuggets traded Joe Smith, Andre Miller, and two first-round draft picks to the Philadelphia 76ers for Allen Iverson. The moves gave the Nuggets the top two scorers in the league at the time with Anthony and Iverson both scoring over 30 points per game. Chemistry issues plagued the team despite finishing the season with the sixth seed. They took Game 1 and home-court advantage away from the Spurs but were swept in five games for the fourth straight year. On the 16th of March 2008, the Nuggets scored 168 points in a 168, 116 home win over Seattle SuperSonics. It was the third-most points scored for a regulation game in NBA history. They finished the 2007, 08 NBA season with exactly 50 wins as well as finishing the first half of that season 25, 16. Denver ended up as the eighth seed in the Western Conference of the 2008 NBA playoffs. Their 50 wins marked the highest win total for an eighth seed in NBA history. It also meant that for the first time in NBA history, all eight playoff seeds in a Conference had at least 50 wins.

• 4. Jokic Dynasty And Championship Victory

  ›

  In the 2014 NBA draft, Denver selected 19-year-old Nikola Jokić from Mega Basket in Serbia with the 41st overall pick. He would end up being one of the biggest draft steals in NBA history. In the 2020, 21 NBA season, Jokić was named the NBA Most Valuable Player. He became the first center since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 and the first player in Nuggets franchise history to win the award. He also became the lowest ever drafted player at #41 to win the MVP award. The following season saw more poor injury luck for the Denver Nuggets. Nine games into the season, starting forward Michael Porter Jr. joined Murray on the sidelines with season-ending back surgery. In spite of the injuries, Jokić and starting power forward Aaron Gordon carried the Nuggets to the sixth seed. Jokić went on to receive the Kia MVP Award for the second year in a row. In the 2022, 23 season, elevated by the offseason acquisitions of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown, the Nuggets secured the top seed in the Western Conference with 53 wins and 29 losses. They defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 4, 1 in the first round before defeating the Phoenix Suns 4, 2 in the Conference Semifinals. The team swept the Los Angeles Lakers in four games to advance to their first ever NBA Finals. This marked the first time that the Nuggets had beaten the Lakers in a playoff series. On the 12th of June 2023, the Nuggets beat the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat 4, 1 to win their first NBA championship. Jokić received the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. In the 2023, 24 season, Nikola Jokić won his third Most Valuable Player Award on the 8th of May 2024. He became the ninth player to do so and tied with other greats such as Moses Malone and Larry Bird.

• 5. Uniform Evolution And Branding History

  ›

  From 1967, 68 through 1970, 71, the Denver Rockets' logos, uniforms, and colors were black, orange, and white. From 1971, 72 through 1973, 74, the Rockets wore gold and purple uniforms. Their logo featured a cartoonish rocket bouncing a gold and purple basketball with a purple and white snow-capped mountain in the background. During the Nuggets' final two seasons in the ABA, the team's logo featured a cartoonish miner known as Maxie The Miner. He had a large red beard, a pick-axe in one hand, and a red and blue basketball in the other. When the Nuggets joined the NBA in the 1976, 77 season, they retained the pick-axe logo on their jerseys from the ABA days. From 1982, 83 through 1992, 93, the Nuggets wore the Denver rainbow city skyline across the chest and back. Some fans call the iconic 1980s logo the Tetris logo due to the buildings that shadow the mountains being in the shape of squares. For the 1993, 94 season, the Nuggets drastically changed their look with a navy blue, metallic gold, and maroon color scheme. The rainbow city skyline was replaced with a logo featuring a navy blue snow-capped mountain above an enlarged western-style Nuggets wordmark in metallic gold. For the 2003, 04 season, the Nuggets made another uniform change coinciding with Carmelo Anthony's debut. They used a color scheme of powder blue, gold, and royal blue. Powder blue was eliminated from all logos and uniforms for the 2018, 19 season. The current color scheme consists of midnight blue, sunshine yellow, flatirons red, and skyline blue. The circular pick axe logo became the team's new primary logo for the 2018, 19 season.

• 6. Home Court And Arena Legacy

  ›

  The Nuggets played at the Denver Auditorium Arena from 1967 until 1975. They also played at the Denver Coliseum during those same years. McNichols Sports Arena served as their home from 1975 until 1999. Ball Arena has been their home since 1999, formerly known as Pepsi Center until 2020. COMSAT bought the NHL's Quebec Nordiques in 1995 and moved them to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche. Cost overruns associated with the construction of Pepsi Center had shareholders up in arms. In 1997, COMSAT agreed in principle to sell Ascent Entertainment Group to Liberty Media. However, Liberty was not interested in sports ownership at the time. After almost two years, Ascent sold the Avalanche and Nuggets to Walmart heirs Bill and Nancy Laurie for $400 million. A group of Ascent shareholders sued, claiming that the sale price was several million dollars too low. Ascent then agreed to sell the teams to Denver banking tycoon Donald Sturm for $461 million. The city of Denver refused to transfer the parcel of land on which Pepsi Center stood unless Sturm promised to keep the teams in Denver for at least 25 years. Finally, in July 2000, real estate entrepreneur Stan Kroenke bought the Avalanche, Nuggets, and Pepsi Center in a $450 million deal. Kroenke is the brother-in-law of the Lauries. His wife Ann is Nancy Laurie's sister. Under terms of Strum's purchase agreement, all basketball decisions required approval from both Ascent/Liberty and Sturm.