Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team competes in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The Nuggets play in the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
A team called the Denver Nuggets played the 1949-1950 season in the NBA. Denver did not have a professional team again until the Denver Rockets entered the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the 1967-1968 season. The team played as the Rockets through the 1973-1974 season, when it changed its name to the Nuggets. The Nuggets entered the NBA in 1976 after the ABA merged with the National Basketball Association. Denver stars during the team’s ABA years included center Dan Issel and guard David Thompson.
The Nuggets won division titles in 1984-1985 and 1987-1988 behind high-scoring forward Alex English. In 2003-2004, after eight consecutive losing seasons, Denver finished with a 43-39 record and made the playoffs for only the third time since 1990-1991. The team made the playoffs again in the 2004-2005 season with a 49-33 record, led by forward Carmelo Anthony and guard Andre Miller. Denver won its division in 2005-2006 but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Clippers.
During the 2006-2007 season, the Nuggets acquired high-scoring guard Allen Iverson in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. For the 2007-2008 season, Iverson and Anthony finished third and fourth in the NBA in scoring, averaging more than 52 points per game between them. Denver won the division title in 2009-2010 behind Anthony, who finished second in NBA scoring, and guard Chauncey Billups. The team returned to the playoffs the next three seasons, but a five-year playoff drought followed. In 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Denver, led by center Nikola Jokić and guard Jamal Murray, won division titles. The team had the best record in the Western Conference in the 2022-2023 season. In June 2023, the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat, 4 games to 1, to win their first NBA championship.
