Become a Denver Nuggets fan in 60 seconds 🏀 #shorts

I moved to Denver years ago and never really locked in on the Nuggets. I watched Broncos games, caught a Rockies game at Coors Field when the weather was good, and mostly ignored basketball. Then the Nuggets made the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, and I figured I owed it to myself to actually pay attention. Turns out I had been missing something real.

The easiest entry point is Nikola Jokic, because everyone talks about him and they're right to. Two-time MVP, passes like a point guard, scores whenever he wants — the guy just makes basketball look easy in a way that's genuinely fun to watch even if you don't follow the sport closely. But if you build your entire understanding of this team around Jokic, you're going to miss what actually makes them dangerous. Jamal Murray runs pick-and-roll as well as anyone in the league right now. Aaron Gordon is flying around the baseline doing things that don't show up in a box score but absolutely change games. KCP is exactly the 3-and-D wing this team needed for years and never had. Role players like Jeff Green and Bruce Brown do the quiet work that keeps everything running.

What surprised me most was how complete the roster feels compared to earlier Jokic-era teams. There were seasons where it seemed like he was carrying eight passengers. That's not what this is anymore. Ball Arena on a game night has real energy — the kind where you can feel it when you walk in off Chopper Circle, not just when something good happens on the court. The Nuggets have nineteen theme nights planned for the 2024-2025 season, which tells you something about how seriously the organization is leaning into making games an event, not just a game.

If you're trying to make a full evening out of it downtown, there's actually a lot working in your favor. Larimer Square on 14th and Larimer is about a ten-minute walk from Ball Arena and has enough restaurants and bars that you can eat before or debrief after without much effort. Dazzle Denver on 14th Street is worth knowing about if you want something lower-key — it's a jazz club with a solid menu and a room that feels nothing like the sports bar circuit. The 16th Street Mall area can be a little chaotic on game nights, but if you're already downtown, parking is going to be the bigger headache. Either pay for a garage near the arena early or just take the light rail. The light rail is the actual answer here.

The one honest friction point with becoming a Nuggets fan mid-run is that the playoff atmosphere has already set a high bar. Regular season games are fine, but if your first experience is an elimination game or a Finals matchup, a Tuesday night in November is going to feel like a different sport. That's not a reason to stay home — it's just worth knowing what you're calibrating against.

What makes this team easy to root for is that it doesn't feel manufactured. Jokic was a second-round pick from Serbia. Murray is Canadian and came back from an ACL tear that most people assumed would derail him. Gordon arrived in a trade and quietly became essential. There's no superteam narrative here, which in the current NBA landscape is genuinely refreshing. Denver didn't buy a championship run. It built one slowly, and now it's here.

If you've been loosely aware of the Nuggets but never made them a priority, this is a reasonable time to start. The team is good, the games at Ball Arena are worth going to in person, and downtown Denver has enough around the arena that you can make a whole night of it without much planning. Just sort out the parking situation before you go.