Have the Denver Nuggets ever won the NBA championship?

The Denver Nuggets are in the 2023 NBA Finals, but has the franchise ever won an NBA championship or even been to the Finals before. 

On June 1, the Denver Nuggets will be the hosts of the 2023 NBA Finals as the best-of-seven series tips off for Game 1. They’ll be facing a team in the Miami Heat that, as the No. 8 seed, was never expected to make it to this point, which is not the case for Nikola Jokic and Co.

At the same time, though, the Heat are a franchise familiar with the NBA Finals. Whether it was with Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal or the Big Three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, fans have seen them in the championship series and hoisting titles before, even in recent memory.

But what about Denver? More specifically, have the Nuggets ever won an NBA championship? And what does their NBA Finals resumé look like? Let’s take a look.

Have the Denver Nuggets ever won the NBA championship?

No, the Nuggets have never won a championship. This is true in the NBA as well as in the ABA prior to the league merger too. In fact, Denver is one of 12 teams in the NBA that have never won a title in franchise history, being joined by the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz.

Denver Nuggets NBA Finals appearances and history

Not only have the Nuggets never won a title, 2023 is the first time the franchise has ever made it to the NBA Finals, going down as their first conference finals victory when they swept the Lakers.

While that is true, Denver did make it to the ABA Finals back in 1976 where they met up with the then-New Jersey Nets. The Nuggets lost that series, 4-2. What’s more impressive, though, is that the trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2023 was only the fourth time since the ABA-NBA merger that the franchise had made it to the conference finals. Obviously, it was their first win in that series, most recently having lost to, coincidentally, the Lakers in 2020.