Nuggets 50th Anniversary

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the-aba-years

The ABA Years

The Nuggets invite fans to look back at our organization's past all season long! As part of the team’s 50th Anniversary, the Nuggets will hold four “Decade Nights” highlighting players, teams and coaches from each era of team history.

ABA NIGHT: Thursday, November 9 vs OKC Thunder at 830pm.

1980s Night: Friday, January 12 vs Memphis Grizzlies at 7pm.

1990s Night: Saturday, January 27 vs Dallas Mavericks at 7pm.

2000s Night: Friday, February 23 vs San Antonio Spurs at 7pm.

The decade nights kick off with the ABA era. Spencer Haywood, Ralph Simpson, and Chuck Williams will join the festivities for fan autographs and a special halftime ceremony.

To celebrate the 80's era, Wayne Cooper, Michael Adams, and Mike Evans will join the nights happenings.

Nuggets greats Antonio McDyess, LaPhonso Ellis, and Robert Pack are set to bring us back to the 90s.

To round the celebration of the Nuggets out, Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby, and Allen Iverson will reunite at Pepsi Center.

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Nuggets 50th Anniversary Decade Nights

The Denver Nuggets are proud to announce KeyBank FanFest as part of their opening night festivities when they host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, October 21.

The KeyBank FanFest will kick-off at 3:00PM on the Grand Atrium plaza outside Pepsi Center and will celebrate the launch of the Nuggets’ 50th Anniversary Season.

Fans are invited to cheer on the current Nuggets team as they arrive for the game for a special red-carpet entrance. The players will arrive between 4:00PM and 5:30PM.

KeyBank FanFest will also feature a meet and greet and autograph session with the five players being honored as part of the Opening Night Legends Celebration: Byron Beck #40, David Thompson #33, Dan Issel #44, Alex English #2 and Dikembe Mutombo #55. The Legends’ autograph session will be open to fans from 5:30PM to 6:20PM.

The first 500 fans to arrive at FanFest will receive a free 50th Anniversary Nuggets t-shirt and will have the opportunity to enter-to-win other great prizes including a fly-away trip to see the Nuggets take on the Lakers on November 19 in Los Angeles.

Additional activities at KeyBank FanFest will include food trucks, vendors, a beer garden, raffles and giveaways. There will also be family-friendly activities including games, balloon artists, face painters, sign making stations, photo booths and more.

Admission to KeyBank FanFest is free and all ages are welcome.

The Denver Nuggets 50th Anniversary Season is presented by Western Union and KeyBank.
Tickets to Nuggets Opening Night are available for purchase here. The game will be broadcasted live on Altitude Sports and Altitude AM 950.

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Denver Nuggets to Host KeyBank FanFest Prior to Home Opening Game

DENVER, Oct. 10, 2017 – Denver Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke announced today that in conjunction with the season-long celebration of 50 years of Mile High Basketball, the Nuggets will be retiring legendary player Lafayette “Fat” Lever’s #12 jersey on Saturday, December 2, 2017 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers.

“With what Fat Lever has meant to this team, this city and our community for the past 30-plus years, it makes perfect sense to honor him by retiring his jersey during this special season,” Kroenke stated. “He is not only one of the best Nuggets in franchise history, but a great ambassador of Denver basketball as well. It is going to be an honor to have his jersey hanging in our arena.”

Lever was a member of the Nuggets from 1984 through 1990. In 474 games spanning six seasons with Denver, he averaged 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.46 steals per game. The Nuggets reached the postseason in all six of Lever’s years while playing under Head Coach Doug Moe and his up-tempo system, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 1985.

Lever earned an All-Star spot in both the 1988 and 1990 seasons and was named to the All-NBA Second Team in 1986-87 and the All-Defensive Second Team in 1987-88. He is scattered throughout the Nuggets’ all-time leaderboards, ranking 1st in steals (1,167), 2nd in assists (3,566), 7th in points (8,081), 7th in made field goals (3,304), 7th in minutes played (16,867) and 8th in rebounds (3,621).

The Pine Bluff, Arkansas native also earned the reputation as a prolific triple-double threat during his time in Denver. He registered 46 triple-doubles as a Nugget (including three in the playoffs), far and away the most in franchise history. He is currently one of only seven NBA players since 1983-84 to have registered a triple-double with steals and is the only Nugget in team history to ever do so. Lever led the NBA in triple-doubles (16) in 1986-87, tied for the most in the league (12) in 1987-88 and came in 3rd (10) in 1988-89. Over that three year span, Lever ranked 2nd in the NBA in total triple-doubles with 38, trailing only Magic Johnson (43) and ahead of Michael Jordan (18).

Lever will become the sixth Nugget player to have his jersey retired and seventh member of the organization overall. He will join Byron Beck’s #40, David Thompson’s #33, Dan Issel’s #44, Alex English’s #2 and Dikembe Mutombo’s #55. Iconic head coach Doug Moe and his 432 career wins with the Nuggets are also memorialized with a banner in Pepsi Center’s rafters.

The Denver Nuggets 50th Anniversary Season is presented by Western Union and KeyBank.

Tickets to the Nuggets Dec. 2nd game vs. the L.A. Lakers are available for purchase at www.AltitudeTickets.com. The game will be broadcasted live on Altitude Sports and Altitude AM 950.

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Nuggets to Retire Fat Lever's #12 Jersey

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#TheGoldenAge: '94 Upset

The 1984-85 Nuggets were coach Doug Moe’s fifth team in Denver. And while he’d had some success in other seasons, this one was his best to date. It marched to 52 wins and the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs. It was a 14-game improvement in the win column from the prior season.

The Nuggets were quiet assassins, blowing through the NBA with the league’s most potent offense, while mixing in opportunistic defense. This is what that looked like:

No. 1 in the NBA in points: 120.0 per game

No. 2 in field goals made (47.3/game) and attempted (97.3/game)

There were no advanced stats back then, but it didn’t take any to know those numbers were emblematic of a team that was one of the NBA’s best. Alex English (27.9) and Calvin Natt (23.3) led six Nuggets that averaged over 10 points per game that season. They scored at least 130 points in 14 games, and carried a 13-1 record in those contests.

The team wasted no time in getting themselves right to the top of the table. The Nuggets won 12 of their first 14 games, which included a stretch where they ripped off nine straight victories. They had four winning streaks of at least five games, and finished the regular season nearly as strong as they started it, with wins in 10 of their last 15. The Nuggets rolled.

And they continued that roll right into the playoffs.

In the first round, the Nuggets took down the San Antonio Spurs, featuring George “The Iceman” Gervin in five games. Despite the series going the distance, the Nuggets won their games by an average score of 127.3-107.3. And that included a 27-point victory in Game 5 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals against Utah.

The Nuggets only needed five games to dispatch of the Jazz, winning that series 4-1 and averaging 125 points on 49.5 percent shooting in the process. English averaged an eye-popping 30.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.2 steals in the series. Next up: Magic Johnson’s L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

And, unfortunately for the Nuggets, that’s when the injuries hit. English suffered a broken thumb. Natt, Lever and Mike Evans all played through knee ailments. The battered Nuggets eventually succumbed to the Lakers in five games.

And yet there was little disappointment in the season as a whole. The Nuggets maximized their talent and nearly rode it to the NBA Finals, a team that set a new bar of thinking of the franchise as a true contender.

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#TheGoldenAge: 1984-85 Nuggets

You knew it was love between the Mile High City and Chris Andersen when people began popping up at Halloween parties or costume contests or were trick-or-treating dressed as the Birdman. Hair moussed-up into a Mohawk. Fake tattoos plastered on every free piece of skin.

Because, almost being him had to be as good as being him, right?

Perhaps. But being Chris Andersen was really, really good. He took the Nuggets by storm by just being him. Outside of Dikembe Mutombo and Marcus Camby, Andersen was arguably the most famous shot-blocker in the franchise’s history. His 624 blocks in seven seasons with the Nuggets is tied for fourth with Alex English on the team’s all-time list. His 1.7 average per game in his time with the Nuggets ranks eighth on the team’s all-time list.

The Nuggets originally signed Birdman, then a skinny 6-foot-10 power forward, out of Blinn College as an undrafted free agent in 2001. His athleticism stood out. He spent three seasons with the Nuggets before moving on to New Orleans. But it was his second stint with the team that his athleticism really shined. After a couple of seasons in New Orleans, Andersen returned to the Nuggets in 2008. And he made his presence immediately felt.

Andersen averaged 2.5 swats that season – in just 20.6 minutes per game. Per 36, that was a ridiculous 4.3 blocks per game, and it gave everyone a clear look at just how valuable a reserve Andersen was. His contributions in rim protection and on the boards were critical to the Nuggets advancing to the Western Conference Finals that year.

His success off the bench enabled his personality to shine. He flapped his arms after dunks and blocks. He played with mounds of energy. The tattoos became more plentiful and more colorful. He was an outside-the-box personality in a sport that confines its players inside the four lines of a 94-foot court. Andersen quickly became a fan favorite, none the least of which was because he loved them just as much.

Andersen led the Nuggets in single season blocks twice. He was also a high percentage shooter in the paint, catching lobs, cleaning up missed attempts, and running the court like a gazelle on fast breaks to finish with thunderous dunks.

In 2017, Andersen finished his 15th season in the NBA, not with the Nuggets but still creating fans wherever he goes. Still, it is the thrills that he authored with the Nuggets that have endeared him to this city forever.

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#TheGoldenAge: Chris 'Birdman' Andersen

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#TheGoldenAge: Robert Pack

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Watch your Denver Nuggets make their pick, win team signed gear, and meet Super Mascot Rocky! For more information <a href="https://www.nba.com/nuggets/watch-parties">Click Here</a>