## Organization and Purpose The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado, competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as part of the Western Conference’s Northwest Division[2]. As a major-league sports franchise, the Nuggets are a significant local business, generating revenue through ticket sales, broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and merchandise. The organization plays its home games at Ball Arena, shared with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and the NLL’s Colorado Mammoth, highlighting Denver’s status as a multi-sport city[2]. ## Historical Overview Founded in 1967 as the Denver Larks, the team quickly became the Denver Rockets—a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA)—before adopting the Nuggets moniker in 1974 to avoid confusion with the NBA’s Houston Rockets[1][2]. The name “Nuggets” pays homage to Colorado’s mining heritage[4]. The Nuggets were a dominant force in the ABA, reaching the finals in 1976, but fell short of a championship[1][2]. In 1976, the team was one of four ABA franchises to join the NBA through the ABA–NBA merger, immediately becoming the most successful of the merger teams by winning a division title in their first NBA season[1]. ## Key Achievements The Nuggets enjoyed playoff streaks in the 1980s and again from 2004 to 2013, though often exiting early in the postseason[2][3]. A major turning point came in the 2003–04 season with the arrival of Carmelo Anthony, sparking a decade of playoff appearances[3][4]. The franchise’s modern era has been defined by the drafting of Nikola Jokić in 2014 and the hiring of coach Michael Malone in 2015, culminating in a historic 2022–23 season where the Nuggets finished atop the Western Conference,