Based in Denver, Colorado, the Denver Nuggets compete in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the NBA. The Denver Nuggets joined the National Basketball Association in the 1976 season. Before that, they competed in the ABA. Currently, the Nuggets play their games at Ball Arena which was previously known as the Pepsi Center before its name change in 2020.
Origin of the Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets were founded before the 1948-1949 National Basketball League season. In the next season, the NBL would merge with the Basketball Association of America which would merge with the NBA. The Nuggets would only play one season in the NBA before the franchise would shut down.
When did the Nuggets come to Denver?
The franchise would end up being revived in the 1976 season. In that year, the ABA would award a franchise to a purchasing group based in Kansas City, Missouri. However, without being able to find a suitable place to play in Kansas City, the ABA commissioner at the time, George Mikan, would suggest moving the team out to Denver.
What were the Denver Nuggets called before?
The team originally was known as the Denver Larks, named after the state bird. However, the original owner would end up selling 2/3 of the team to Bill Ringsby after the league forced the Larks to pay $100,000 or the owners would lose control of the franchise. After getting majority control of the franchise, Ringsby would change the name of the team from the Denver Larks to the Denver Rockets.
Denver Nuggets Logo History
Time Spent In the ABA
The early years in the ABA were rather kind to the Denver Rockets. They were a very middle-of-the-road team that could not make it out of the middle of the pack. At this time, they were known as a team that would consistently make it to the playoffs, however, they were incapable of really putting together many deep playoff runs.
The early Denver Rockets were led by Byron Beck, Larry Jones, and Ralph Sampson. Along with this, the Denver Rockets made history when Lonnie Wright joined the team. Wright became the first player to ever play professional football and professional basketball in the same season.
Along with this the one-year addition of Spencer Haywood did wonders for the Rockets. Haywood skipped going to college and wanted to play professional basketball right out of high school. The NBA did not allow that during this time and as a result, Haywood would spend one season in the ABA with the Rockets. In that one season, he completely dominated the league. He averaged 30 points and 19.5 points per game. He won ABA Rookie of the Year, ABA MVP, and All-Star MVP. Also in that season, the Rockets made it to the second round of the playoffs before they would be eliminated.
Early Years After Team Joined the NBA
Why did the Denver Rockets change their name?
The team would be sold and renamed in anticipation of the franchise joining the NBA. A fan voting contest for the name would once again lead the team to be named the Denver Nuggets. The team had recently drafted one of the best players in their teams’ history, David Thompson. In their final years of the ABA, the Nuggets were having some of the best seasons in team history, however, they did not end up leading to a championship as they were eliminated in the Finals by Julius Erving and the New York Nets.
Both the Nuggets and the Nets applied to join the NBA in the 1975 season, however, they were forced to stay in the ABA due to a court order. However, when the Nuggets finally did make the jump to the league, they started off hot. They won the division title their first two years in the NBA and were only a single game off of a three-peat in their third season.
With the Nuggets having to pay $2 million in fees to join the NBA, they were forced to change ownership to someone who could afford the huge cost. Early into their NBA stay, the Nuggets were by far the best offensive team in the league. They often averaged over 115 points per game, scored over 100 points in every game of the 1981-1982 season, and averaged 126.5 points per game in the 1981-1982 season.
Alex English Era
Who is the greatest Denver Nugget of all time?
Alex English was really coming into his own around this time. Along with this, the Nuggets had very talented supporting pieces around him in Kiki Vandeweghe and Dan Issel. One of the games this season really showed off the offensive firepower of the Nuggets.
A game against the Detroit Pistons went to triple-overtime and set the record for most points scored in an NBA game. The game resulted in the Nuggets losing by a final score of 186-184. English would take home the scoring title this season. The teams’ season would come to an end in the Conference Finals against the Lakers.
After the season, Vandeweghe would be traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Fat Level, Calvin Natt, and Wayne Cooper. They also brought in three role players to help with the teams’ defensive struggles. Without Vandeweghe in the lineup, the Nuggets still had a spectacular season in which they won 54 games. They would once again make a playoff run this season, however, they were eliminated in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks.
In the following year after a coaching change, the defense for the Nuggets was even worse than it had been in the past. It had gotten to the point that their offense could no longer keep up and they began to become a losing team. It got to the point that sportswriters around the country began referring to the team as the Enver Nuggets because they never played any defense. This era would end in a rebuilding period that would last until the Nuggets could find the next face of their franchise.
Dikembe Mutumbo Era
They would begin to amend the Denver Nuggets roster with the selection of Dikembe Mutumbo as the fourth overall pick of the 1991 draft. He would end up coming in second place in the Rookie of the Year race, only finishing behind Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets.
Arguably the peak of this era came in the 1993-1994 season. This year, the Nuggets were barely able to scrape their way into the playoffs, however, they managed to sneak in with the 8th seed. They were quickly written off by many to fall to the Seattle Supersonics who had a very talented roster at the time.
However, the Nuggets would go on to force one of the biggest playoff upsets that the league has ever seen. Denver won the final game of the series in overtime by a final score of 98-94. This was the first time in league history that a first-seeded team had ever been eliminated by an eighth-seeded team.
Carmelo Anthony Era
The team would go on to struggle and be stuck in a rebuilding phase for around the next ten years before the 2003 NBA draft. In this draft, the Nuggets were able to find one of the most talented players to ever play for the team along with the face of their franchise. That player, of course, is Carmelo Anthony. Anthony was selected with the third overall pick of the 2003 draft.
In his first year with the franchise, Melo took the Nuggets to the playoffs which was an enormous turnaround from the previous season. Along with this, he fell just short of winning Rookie of the Year, just barely getting beat by LeBron James. The Nuggets were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the following season, the Nuggets once again made the Western Conference playoffs, however, their first-round matchup was against the San Antonio Spurs. This was a very talented Spurs team and they would knock the Nuggets out of the first round in only five games.
Next year, the Nuggets won their division and clinched the third seed in the West. Despite this, they had a worse regular-season record than their first-round matchup, the Los Angeles Clippers. This meant that the Clippers had a home-court advantage and they took full advantage of that. They eliminated the Nuggets in five games.
The 2006 season was a wasted one for the Nuggets. Their season went down the drain after a brawl between the Nuggets and the New York Knicks. Allegedly Knicks head coach at the time, Isiah Thomas told Nuggets shooting guard J.R. Smith not to go back into the paint. Smith ignored the threat and he was heavily fouled on a breakaway layup.
Smith rightfully took offense to this and it caused a bench-clearing brawl that would leave Anthony suspended for fifteen games, Smith suspended for ten games, and Nene suspended for only one game. With two of their top players out for a solid chunk of the year, it hurt their playoff seeding and they would once again be bounced in the first round.
One day after the brawl, it was clear the Nuggets would need some scoring in the absence of Smith and Anthony. As a result of this, they traded Joe Smith, Andre Miller, and two first-round picks to the Philadelphia 76ers and in exchange, they received Ivan McFarlin and Allen Iverson.
Iverson was still an incredible scorer with the Nuggets, however, they really still could not take their team to the next step with him on the roster. He only ended up lasting one full season and two partial seasons with the team before he moved on to the Detroit Pistons.
The final plan the Nuggets had to win with Anthony on their team was to add Chauncy Billups to the team. Denver sent Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Billups, Antonio McDyess, and Cheikh Samb. Along with this, they traded Marcus Camby to the Clippers for cap space. This would work out exactly to plan in the first season. Anthony and Billups meshed perfectly and it led to one of the best seasons in Nuggets’ history.
They finished the season as the second seed in the West. They knocked out the New Orleans Hornets in the first round in four games. In the second round, the Nuggets faced off against the Dallas Mavericks who they eliminated in five games. Unfortunately, they took on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals. While the Nuggets were a very talented team this season, they still were not enough for the Lakers and they were sent packing in six games.
The following season was rather uneventful for the Nuggets. The next big move for the franchise would be the departure of Carmelo.
Post Melo Nuggets and Pre Nikola Jokic Era
At some point, it became clear that things weren’t going to work out for Anthony on the Nuggets. He had already outgrown the team and wanted to join a big market franchise that could lure multiple All-Stars, forcing his way to the New York Knicks.
For that, both teams engaged in a massive blockbuster deal, with Denver trading away Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter, and Shelden Williams and getting Timofey Mozgov, Kosta Koufos, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, and Wilson Chandler in return. Clearly, the Nuggets would now have to go through a rebuilding era but it’s not like they had much of a choice, as Anthony could simply leave in free agency.
After this, nothing major went right for the Nuggets until recent years. They would not make the playoffs again after the 2012-2013 season until 2018-2019. By this time, Nikola Jokic was already shaping up to be one of the top centers the league had to offer. He had a very rare skill set of being able to distribute the ball along with having an extremely good range for a big man.
They made their final Conference Finals appearance in the 2019-2020 season where they once again faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers. Although the young Nuggets team gave the Lakers a good run, they were unable to win the series and lost in six games.
We have not seen the Nuggets healthy in a full playoff run since then and it will be very interesting to see what the team can do. Since drafting him, Jokic has proven himself as an MVP level player, and at his best, he is the top center in the entire NBA.
How the Denver Nuggets Look Today
Today, the Nuggets are heavily reliant on Nikola Jokic. They have not quite been able to put a great team around him yet, however, they are well on their way if they can remain healthy, as he’s already been crowned MVP and has led them to the postseason multiple times.
Notable First and Second Round Draft Pick
There have been a handful of big draft picks that Denver Nuggets have made in recent seasons. One of the top picks they made came from the 1991 draft where the Denver Nuggets selected Dikembe Mutumbo with the fourth overall pick. Mutumbo would end up spending five seasons with the Nuggets, two of which resulted in All-Star appearances. Mutumbo also averaged 12.9 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game.
Another top pick in franchise history for the Nuggets came in the 2017 draft. With the 7th overall pick, the Denver Nuggets selected Jamal Murray. Murray has shown an incredible amount of potential since he entered the league.
He has the potential to be one of the game’s top scorers once he truly reaches his peak. However, he has struggled to remain healthy and stay on the floor which is something that is very concerning as it is happening this early and frequently in his career. He currently has averages of 16.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
A third notable pick comes in the 1977 draft. The Nuggets held the 9th pick in this draft and would make its first pick as a franchise in NBA history with the selection of Tom LaGarde. While LaGarde would end up being a bust, only spending one season with the Nuggets and six seasons in the NBA, he averaged 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
The next notable draft pick for the Nuggets came in the 2014 draft when Denver got one of the biggest steals in NBA history. The Nuggets pulled off the heist of the draft and would end up getting the face of their franchise and an eventual MVP of the league early in the second round. Since joining the team, Jokic has revolutionized the center position.
He very well could be the best passing big man the game has ever seen. With him having an almost perfect and very well rounded out the offensive game for a center and taking major strides in improving his defensive game, the sky is the limit on what Jokic could end up being in this league and the places that he could take the Nuggets if they can put a talented and healthy team around him.
During his six seasons so far with the Nuggets, Jokic has put up very averages of 19.0 points per game, 10.1 rebounds per game, 6.0 assists per game, and 1.2 steals per game. Those averages will continue to climb as Jokic keeps improving and getting closer to his prime.
The final notable pick that will be covered comes from the 2003 draft. With the third overall pick, the Nuggets selected one of the most talented players to ever don their jersey. That player of course being Carmelo Anthony. Before forcing his way out of Denver, Anthony was the best player to play for Denver, however, with Jokic winning an MVP with the franchise, he likely has eclipsed Melo. Anthony was the face of the franchise for a fair amount of time.
However, after the Nuggets were unable to really put a team around him that could contend in a very tough Western Conference, Anthony eventually demanded a trade to a big market team and would end up spending some time on the New York Knicks. Melo played his first seven full seasons with the Nuggets before he was traded in the middle of his eighth year. During his time with the Nuggets, he averaged 24.7 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, and 3.1 assists per game.
NBA Playoff History
The Denver Nuggets have spent 45 seasons in the NBA. Throughout the Nuggets’ history, they have made the playoffs 27 times. This works out to a 60% playoff appearance rate. The most recent playoff appearance in Denver Nuggets history came last year in the 2020-2021 season. After injuries left the team as a shell of themselves, they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Western Conference Finals/ NBA Finals Appearances
There have only been four Western Conference Finals appearances in Nuggets franchise history. The first appearance in the Western Conference Finals came in the 1978 season. This year, the Nuggets would be eliminated in six games to the Seattle Supersonics. The second trip to the Conference Finals would match the Denver Nuggets up against the Lakers in 1984.
The Nuggets would be eliminated from the playoffs in five games. Their third appearance came in the 2009 season. The Denver Nuggets played the Los Angeles Lakers. They were eliminated in six games and it would be tied for the furthest playoff run the Nuggets would ever make.
Their most recent run to the Conference Finals would once again match the Denver Nuggets up against the Los Angeles Lakers and once again, the Lakers would knock the Nuggets out in six games. While they still have not made an appearance in the NBA Finals, it seems to only be a matter of time before they put the right team around Nikola Jokic and they finally take this big step.
Why do the Denver Nuggets have a rainbow on their jerseys?
The Denver Nuggets are paying homage to their history by incorporating the iconic “rainbow skyline” designs from 1981-1993 into their jerseys. This classic design was the result of a fan design contest and was proudly worn by the Nuggets for more than 10 years.
What does 5280 mean on the Denver Nuggets court?
Perched beneath the mountain range, a fresh addition of 5280 and 300 symbolizes Denver’s elevation of 5,280 feet and the historic yearly average of 300 days with sunshine.
