Denver Nuggets
| Denver Nuggets | |||
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| Conference | Western | ||
| Division | Northwest | ||
| Founded | 1967 | ||
| History |
Denver Rockets (ABA) 1967–1974 Denver Nuggets (ABA) 1974–1976 Denver Nuggets (NBA) 1976–present |
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| Arena | Pepsi Center | ||
| Location | Denver, Colorado | ||
| Team colors | Navy blue, light blue, yellow gold, white |
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| Team manager | Tim Connelly | ||
| Head coach | Michael Malone | ||
| Ownership | Ann Walton Kroenke | ||
| Affiliation(s) | None | ||
| Championships | 0 | ||
| Conference titles | 0 | ||
| Division titles |
10 ABA: 3 (1970, 1975, 1976) NBA: 7 (1977, 1978, 1985, 1988, 2006, 2009, 2010) |
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| Retired numbers | 6 (2, 33, 40, 44, 55, 432) | ||
| Website | nuggets.com | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), but changed its name to Rockets before the first season. It changed its name again to the Nuggets in 1974. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets.
The team has had some periods of success, qualifying for the ABA Playoffs for all seasons from 1967 to the 1976 ABA playoffs where it lost in the finals. The team joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA–NBA merger and qualified for the NBA playoffs in nine consecutive seasons in the 1980s and ten consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2013. However, it has not made an appearance in a championship round since its last year in the ABA. The Nuggets play their home games at Pepsi Center, which they share with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
In 1967, one of the ABA's charter franchises was awarded to a group in Kansas City, Missouri, headed by Southern Californian businessman James Trindle. However, Trindle was unable to find a suitable arena in the Kansas City area. League commissioner George Mikan suggested moving the team to Denver. After agreeing to name Denver native and former NBA player Vince Boryla as general manager, Trindle moved his team to Denver as the Denver Larks, named after Colorado's state bird. The Trindle group was severely undercapitalized, leading Mikan to order the Larks to post a $100,000 performance bond or lose the franchise. Hours before the deadline, Trindle sold a ⅔ controlling interest to Denver trucking magnate Bill Ringsby for $350,000. Ringsby then renamed the team the Rockets, after his company's long-haul trucks.
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