The Nuggets championship ring is the first of its kind.
It was designed in collaboration with Jason of Beverly Hills, a bespoke jewelry brand that continues to reinvent the championship ring industry across all major sports franchises. Championship rings will be presented to Nuggets players and personnel during the Ring Night and Banner Raising ceremony, which you can read more about here.
Nuggets.com was able to speak with Jason Arasheben, CEO Jason of Beverly Hills, before Tuesday's Opening Night.
"Every single time we do a championship ring, it has to tell a story," Arasheben said. "And not only the story of the organization, but the team, the season, the players, and most importantly, the city of Denver. And this ring is no different. It tells a robust story—lots of storylines, lots of easter eggs, and most importantly, lots of features in this ring."
Denver's championship story was told in its totality. No stone was left unturned.
"When we start designing a championship ring, we go on a board and we write down all the important events of the season. What happened with the players? The trials and tribulations? What happened during the playoffs? What happened in the city? We build all of these storylines and we try to include as many of those storylines into the design of the ring," said Arashaben. "On this one, the postseason, the regular season, and the road to the Finals victory are all included in the ring."
Arashaben himself went to every single NBA Finals game and was there in Denver for the championship celebration. He reflected on the historic night during his conversation with Nuggets.com.
"I'll never forget that night we were celebrating. I brought my ring-sizers with me, and Aaron Gordon had a party that night," said the CEO of Jason of Beverly Hills. "I went over there and was able to talk to all the players, getting their ring sizes. This was before we even had a deal. I wanted to be well prepared.. it allowed me to get design feedback from players before even starting to design the ring, and I thought that was so important."
Arashaben told Nuggets.com that his existing relationships with 6 players on the roster helped his designers incorporate what was important to the team. Jason of Beverly Hills prepared a multitude of ring designs and presented them to those same 6 players, along with Josh Kroenke and Nuggets ownership, at Las Vegas Summer League in July.
"We sat down, and I gave them choices of different design elements," Arashaben explained. "They told me what they liked, what they didn't like, and it gave us really good direction on where we wanted to go with the design of this ring."
So, about that first-of-its-kind ring.
The ring features two brand-new never-before-seen elements.
First, there is a lever at the top of the ring that changes the background of the ring along with key dates in Nuggets history.
"The face of the ring, for the first time in ring history, is interchangeable," explained Arashaben. "Meaning you can change the color with just a switch of a lever. We have a lever that goes from 1967, the team's inception, to 2023, the championship year. Once you switch it over, it goes from blue sapphires to white diamonds on the face of the ring."
The other key feature is on the side of the ring; there's a hidden retractable compartment that unveils the 2023 Denver Nuggets Championship banner.
"Over the years, rings have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. And there's only so big you can go," Arashaben said proudly. "And although this is a big ring, it's a flashy ring, what makes me most proud about this ring is the two unique innovative features that we put into this ring that's never been done before. It's very hard to recreate and innovate a new feature. But on this ring, we innovated two new features, which is something that I'm very proud of."
The ring also features 16 carats of diamonds, rubies, and blue sapphires to represent the Nuggets' colors. The 16 carats represent the 16 postseason wins that it took to win the NBA championship. Arashaben revealed that there are different colored diamonds—yellow and white—as well as varying shapes of diamonds on the ring. Each diamond was hand-selected to ensure optimal cut, clarity, color, and symmetry.
The face of the ring features the Larry O'Brien trophy to honor the Nuggets' 2023 championship. In the center, "NUGGETS" is written with 24 points of yellow diamonds to represent the 24 years at Ball Arena. The iconic pickaxes that are featured on the team's secondary logo make an appearance on the face of the ring, and Arashaben also mentioned that a mountain range can be found in the ring's center.
89 points of red rubies surround the perimeter of the ring top, which honor the 89 points the Nuggets held the Miami HEAT to in the championship-clinching Game 5 victory.
Both sides of the ring feature a Golden nugget texture that has never been featured before on a championship ring.
On one side, there are the words "WORLD CHAMPIONS" with the Denver Nuggets retro logo and the regular season record. Above that, there's a single row of 15 stones to signify the 15 playoff games played at Ball Arena this season.
The other side has the player's name and number with the team's mantra "BRING IT ON."
"5280" is written on the top and bottom of the face of the ring to represent Denver's altitude above sea level. Playoff series records are also written on the inside of the ring.
Each ring is made up of 17 individual parts that have to be carefully assembled together, according to Jason of Beverly Hills. Every ring goes through the hands of 12 different specialists to contribute their individual expertise to each ring.