The Denver Nuggets ended the 2022-23 season with their first NBA championship, making the current roster the most successful in franchise history. In the years prior to last season, the Nuggets had struggled to get past the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals despite having had some great teams.

In celebration of the 2022-23 Nuggets, we will delve into past Denver seasons to uncover the best teams and players who might not have won championships, but who should never be forgotten.

Have the Denver Nuggets ever won an NBA Championship?

They have now. Denver won its first NBA championship by defeating the Miami Heat in five games to close out the 2022-23 season. The Heat had a great run to the NBA Finals after qualifying for the playoffs via the NBA Play-In Tournament, but Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Co. proved too much for Miami on the ultimate stage.

Given their current roster, this might just be the first of multiple Nuggets championships. Even if a dynasty is not in the making, Denver’s fanbase seems pretty content just celebrating this one.

Denver Nuggets roster history

The 2022-23 Nuggets roster will go down as the best in team history because of its dominant performance both in the regular season and the NBA Finals. However, there have been several other significant Nuggets teams over the decades.

Since entering the NBA in the ABA-NBA merger of 1976, the Nuggets were fortunate to have strong teams built around David Thompson and Bobby Jones in the late 1970s, Alex English in the 1980s, and Carmelo Anthony in the late 2000s. Each of these Denver teams left their mark on the NBA.

Now let's explore the numerous exceptional players who have been part of those strong Nuggets rosters from the past, including Hall of Famers such as Alex English, the team’s all-time leading scorer, Dan Issel, and Dikembe Mutombo.

Ranking the Top 10 Greatest Denver Nuggets teams of all time

10. 1993-94 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Bryant Stith, Dikembe Mutombo, LaPhonso Ellis, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Reggie Williams

Two years after his arrival in the NBA, Dikembe Mutombo was the key defensive player on a young Nuggets team that got much of its scoring from Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and LaPhonso Ellis.

Abdul-Rauf had a phenomenal season from 3-point range in addition to shooting 96 percent from the free-throw line. At the other end of the court, Mutombo was a force under the basket. His trademark finger-wagging taunt after blocking a shot was a regular occurrence during a season in which he averaged an outstanding 4.2 blocks per game.

Hall of Famer Dan Issel coached the 1993-94 team to a 42-40 record and a berth in the playoffs. They then became the first No. 8 seed to topple a No. 1 seed in a playoff series when they ousted the Seattle Supersonics.

9. 1987-88 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Alex English, Fat Lever, Michael Adams, Danny Schayes, Jay Vincent

The Nuggets’ 54-28 regular-season record from 1987-88 is one of the best in team history. This was also one of the most entertaining rosters the franchise has ever put out on the court.

A 34-year-old Alex English led the team in scoring with a 25 points-per-game average, numbers that were heavily supported by secondary scoring from point guard Fat Lever.

Lever averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 assists per game in proving to be one of the most talented Nuggets point guards of all time. Both Lever and English were chosen for the NBA All-Star Game that year, and the Nuggets won the Midwest Conference to advance to the playoffs. They knocked Seattle out in the first round -- a 3-2 series victory -- before losing to Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals.

8. 2003-04 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Carmelo Anthony, Andre Miller, Nene, Voshon Lenard, Marcus Camby

From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, Denver endured some of the worst seasons in franchise history. In 2002-03, the Nuggets won only 17 games with a weak lineup that lacked any kind of spark. However, that dismal season landed them the No. 3 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, where they selected Syracuse forward Carmelo Anthony.

The turnaround with Anthony was miraculous. Denver went from 17-65 to 43-39 and a playoff berth. Carmelo averaged over 21 points per game as a rookie while shooting 32 percent from 3-point range. Denver was suddenly back on the map.

Melo was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team that year as he sparked a new era for the Nuggets franchise by ending what was nearly a decade-long absence from the playoffs.

7. 1976-77 Nuggets

Starting lineup: David Thompson, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Ted McClain, Jim Price

The Nuggets played their inaugural NBA season in 1976-77 following the ABA-NBA merger. Joining a new league was quite the adjustment for teams that came over from the ABA, but Denver made a pretty smooth transition.

The Nuggets held their own in the NBA, to say the least, surging to a 50-32 regular-season record. David Thompson was the team’s star with 25.9 points per game and a 51 percent field-goal percentage that led to his first selection to an NBA All-Star Game.

Dan Issel, consistently remembered as one of the Nuggets’ all-time greats, had 22.3 points per game, while Bobby Jones offered an excellent third shooting option. Larry Brown coached this team, which fell to eventual NBA champion Portland in the Western Conference semifinals. Although their playoff stay was brief, 1976-77 remains one of the most successful years the Nuggets have ever had.

By quickly making their presence felt and earning the established NBA teams’ respect, Denver set a standard for success in changing leagues.

6. 1984-85 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Alex English, Calvin Natt, Fat Lever, T.R. Dunn, Wayne Cooper

The 1984-85 Nuggets reached the Western Conference Finals by playing a highly entertaining caliber of offensive basketball.

Head coach Doug Moe was known for his pressing offensive basketball teams, and the Nuggets of Moe’s era always focused their efforts on overwhelming opposing defenses. The 1984-85 season was the finest example of that, and it also featured Alex English in his prime.

English was in the middle of his run of eight consecutive NBA All-Star Game appearances between 1982 and 1989. He almost equaled his 28.4 points-per-game average from the 1982-83 season that had earned him an NBA scoring title. This time around, English posted 27.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game. He was supported by Calvin Natt, who posted a career-high 23.3 scoring average while adding almost eight rebounds per game.

Denver knocked off both the Spurs and the Jazz before meeting Magic Johnson and the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, that was as far as the Nuggets would go.

5. 2019-20 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Jerami Grant

The Nuggets had high hopes coming into the 2019-20 season based on what had happened one year earlier. The 2018-19 Nuggets had been led by point guard Jamal Murray and do-it-all center Nikola Jokic, and they actually won more regular-season games than the 2022-23 NBA champion Nuggets. Denver’s 2018-19 regular season saw the Nuggets go 54-28, one win more than the championship team’s 53-29 finish.

The 2019-20 regular season did not produce as many wins, but it was another huge season for Jokic, who made his second NBA All-Star Game appearance and earned Second Team All-NBA honors after averaging 19.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 7 assists per game. Meanwhile, Murray averaged more than 18 points for a second straight year and became as good as automatic in the playoffs.

The postseason was miraculous, as Denver overcame a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA bubble not once but twice, and Murray posted multiple high-scoring games that blew Nuggets’ fans minds. His shooting was off the charts, as he helped Denver go all the way to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1985.

4. 1977-78 Nuggets

Starting lineup: David Thompson, Dan Issel, Bob Wilkerson, Bobby Jones, Brian Taylor

The first time the Nuggets reached the Western Conference Finals was in 1978. David Thompson and Dan Issel had made an impression on the NBA a year earlier in the team’s inaugural season, but the duo came back for more in the 1978 playoffs.

Thompson had an unbelievable scoring year in 1977-78, posting some of the best Nuggets stats of all time, including a 27.2 points-per-game average. Denver’s star shooting guard lost the scoring title to San Antonio’s George Gervin by a tiny margin in a battle that went right down to the season’s final day.

Denver’s 1978 seven-game playoff series against Milwaukee was one of the best in franchise history and was a thrill for fans throughout the NBA. The Nuggets then met Seattle in the Western Conference Finals, where they fell in six games.

3. 2008-09 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Chauncey Billups, Nene, Kenyon Martin

Denver won 54 games during the 2008-09 regular season and finished first in the Northwest Division in what would be one of the crowning moments of Carmelo Anthony’s Nuggets career. The 54 wins broke the previous franchise record, and the success was largely due to Melo taking on a more team-friendly role in which he was willing to cut down on his shooting and share the basketball.

Melo averaged 22.8 points and shot 37 percent from 3-point range, while also grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game that year. He was helped by the early-season addition of Chauncey Billups, who proved to be a great team asset due to his leadership and presence on the floor.

In the 2009 playoffs, the Nuggets bounced New Orleans 4-1 in the opening round, before also taking down Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks with another 4-1 series victory. They battled hard against Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals but came up short when they were on the wrong end of a great performance by Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

2. 1975-76 Nuggets

Starting lineup: David Thompson, Dan Issel, Ralph Simpson, Bobby Jones, Chuck Williams

The Nuggets’ final season in the ABA was one of the best in franchise history. They won a league-high 60 games that year, and David Thompson established himself as a star who would be one of Denver’s best players for years to come.

Only 21 at the time, Thompson averaged 26 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. He led the team in scoring ahead of Dan Issel, who was a close second with 23 points per game. The whole team scored at a high clip, and strong performances from players such as Bobby Jones and Ralph Simpson helped Denver dominate its competition and reach the ABA Finals.

Facing Julius Erving and the New York Nets, the Nuggets lost the championship series 4-2. At the time, the organization feared that the impending merger with the NBA would pull the team apart. That wasn’t the case, as the 1976-77 Nuggets continued their excellent form, and the franchise remained strong for it first three NBA seasons.

1. 2022-23 Nuggets

Starting lineup: Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr.

By the time the 2022-23 season rolled around, the Denver Nuggets had been on the brink of the NBA Finals for several years. Nikola Jokic had already won back-to-back MVP awards, and the franchise had become a regular presence in the postseason.

Jamal Murray’s struggle to stay healthy had hurt the Nuggets in previous years, but everything came together perfectly in 2022-23 as Denver won a stunning 53 regular-season games.

Jokic was arguably robbed of a third regular-season MVP honor when the annual award instead went to Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, but the Nuggets star was focused on another goal. He didn’t care for individual accolades. His focus was on reaching the NBA Finals.

After beating both Minnesota and Phoenix in the 2023 NBA playoffs, Denver would get another shot at the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. For so many years, the Lakers had crushed the Nuggets’ playoff dreams, but Dener finally got its revenge in 2023. The Nuggets swept LeBron James and the Lakers 4-0 and advanced to their first NBA Finals.

They entered the Finals as the No. 1 seed in the West and comfortably beat the Miami Heat in five games to claim their first title. Head coach Mike Malone and his team had done it, and the Nuggets were finally NBA champions, making the 2022-23 edition the greatest in franchise history.

Parameters for rankings

These Denver Nuggets teams have been ranked based on each squad’s talent level as well as the success it had during the regular season and playoffs. Many of these teams made impressive postseason runs and won a lot of games with current or future Hall of Fame players on their rosters.

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