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The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division.

Alex English

There have been many phenomenal players in Nuggets history, but no one has had a bigger impact on the franchise than Alex English. English spent just over three and a half years with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers, although he hadn't found his groove with either team, and the Pacers sent him to Denver during the 1979-80 season. After producing 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game over the last 24 games of the regular season, English excelled with the Nuggets over the following decade. He was a perfect fit for Doug Moe's up-tempo offense, which helped him develop into one of the greatest scorers of the '80s. The eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA Second Team selection and 1983 scoring champion led the Nuggets to nine consecutive postseason appearances and a berth in the 1985 Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets have only made it back once since. Alex averaged 25.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game during his tenure in Denver and currently leads the Nuggets with 21,645 points, 2,038 offensive rebounds, 3,679 assists and 837 games. Since no current Denver players are in the top 10 in any of these categories, with the exception of Andre Miller on the assists list (801 behind English), English's records would stand for quite some time. After becoming the first player ever to record eight consecutive seasons with at least 2,000 points, English was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. He currently ranks 13th in the NBA.

David Thompson

David Thompson was one of the most explosive guards ever to play the game. After winning Naismith College Player of the Year in 1975, he immediately shone with Denver in his last year in the ABA. With his 26.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, Thompson earned the title of ABA Rookie of the Year, as well as All-ABA Second Team and ABA All-Star Game MVP honors. Thompson showed everyone he was the real deal. As one of the players Michael Jordan looked up to, Thompson had one of the best verticals in the game. When he got halfway down the lane, the Skywalker looked to elude anyone who got in his way. In the six seasons after Denver moved to the NBA, Thompson was a three-time NBA All-Star, MVP of the 1979 All-Star Game and a two-time All-NBA First Team selection. Thompson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996 and is one of only five players to score more than 70 points in a game.

History of the Denver Nuggets

The team was founded in 1967 as the Denver Larks, a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), but changed its name to the Rockets before its first season. In 1974, it changed its name again, to the Nuggets. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the last ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets. The team has had a number of periods of success and qualified for the ABA playoffs in every season from 1967 through the 1976 ABA playoffs, where they 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, they have not appeared in a championship round since their last year in the ABA; as such, they are also the only one of the four remaining former ABA teams never to have reached the NBA Finals. The Nuggets play their home games at Ball Arena, which they share with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).