The 10 best Denver Nuggets of all time

After winning the NBA Championship last year, the Denver Nuggets are trying to establish themselves as the next great NBA franchise.

Like the Golden State Warriors before them, the Nuggets are poised to take over the NBA and dominate for years to come, thanks to Nikola Jokić. While the franchise hasn’t always seen these heights, they have amassed a storied history with some of the best players in ABA and NBA history.

Let’s take a look at the 10 best Denver Nuggets of all time.

10. Chauncey Billups, point guard

Chauncey Billups is one of the few players on this list who played for the Nuggets twice in his career. He played for the Nuggets between 1999-2000 and 2008-2011. His best year with the team was 2009 when he averaged 17.9 points and 6.4 assists in 77 games. That team also broke the record for most wins in a season with 54 and went to the Western Conference Finals. Billups, now the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, finished his NBA career averaging 15 points and five assists per game.

9. Marcus Camby, center

Marcus Camby’s biggest contribution to the Nuggets was help getting them to the playoffs for the first time in six years in 2003. Known for defensive play, he led the NBA in blocking from 2006-08 and earned All-Defensive First Team honors in the 2007-08 seasons. In 2007, Marcus Camby was awarded the  NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. That same year, he averaged a double-double scoring 11. 2 points per game and almost 12 rebounds per game.

8. Kiki VanDeWeghe, small forward

In 293 games for the Nuggets, Kiki VanDeWeghe averaged 23.3 points while shooting 54 percent from the field. He also perfected a move called “the stab” that stars like Kobe Bryant used when he played. The 1983 and 1984 seasons were the best in his career. He averaged nearly 27 points and 29 points per season, respectively. VanDeWeghe ended his NBA career making two NBA All-Star teams and averaging over 19 points per game.

7. Dikembe Mutombo, center

Dikembe Mutombo spent his first five NBA seasons with the Nuggets. In his rookie season, he made the All-Star team and averaged 16.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. In 1994, Mutombo was part of the Denver team that stunned 1-seed Seattle, knocking them out of the playoffs in five games, the first time in NBA history that an 8-seed had done so. The next year, Mutombo earned Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 11.8 rebounds and a career-high 4.5 blocks per game. Mutombo went on to become part of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

6. Carmelo Anthony, small forward

Carmelo Anthony spent the first half of his NBA career in a Nuggets uniform. Before Denver drafted him, they hadn’t made the playoffs in six years. In 2009, he led them to the Western Conference Finals. During his 19-year career, Anthony scored 13,970 points. He made the All-Star team four times—the second-most NBA All-Star Game appearances in Nuggets history. The 10-time NBA All-Star put the Nuggets back on the map, even if his time there ended acrimoniously.

5. Fat Lever, point guard

Lafayette “Fat” Lever is considered the greatest point guard in Nuggets history. In the late 1980s, Lever almost averaged a triple-double. He is also the all-time steals leader in team history (1,167) and is second in team history in assists (3,556), averaging almost eight assists a game. Fat was also a pretty good rebounder, averaging over seven rebounds per game. His best year was the 1989-90 season when he averaged 19.8 points, 7.9 assists, and 9.3 rebounds.

4. Dan Issel, center

Dan Issel was an all-around great on both the college and professional level. Issel is currently second all-time in franchise scoring with 16,589 points. He also leads the franchise in rebounds with 6,630. Issel was a seven-time All-Star, ABA Rookie of the Year, and is part of the College Basketball and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first Nuggets player inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

3. David Thompson, shooting guard

David Thompson, like Dan Issel, was ABA Rookie of the Year before the merger and is one of the most beloved Nuggets of all time. Thompson is a four-time All-Star and averaged nearly 24 points a game in his seven seasons with the team. He got the name “Skywalker” because of his spectacular dunks and finished second in the ABA dunk contest behind Dr. J.  Thompson ended his career with over 13,000 points and is part of both the College Basketball and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

2. Nikola Jokić, center

Nikola Jokić is well on his way to becoming the best Nuggets player of all time. Nine seasons into his career, he’s already established himself as one of the best players in the NBA. The 41st overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, “The Joker” is considered one of the greatest steals in draft history. All he’s done since then is make five All-NBA Teams, become a six-time All-Star, win back-to-back NBA MVP awards, and lead the Nuggets to an NBA championship, earning NBA Finals MVP in the process. One of these days, he’ll probably vault to the top of this list. But for now…

1. Alex English, small forward

Alex English is, for now, the greatest player to put on a Nuggets uniform. English is the Nuggets’ all-time leader in points, assists, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goals attempted, and offensive rebounds. In 1983, he was the NBA’s leading scorer, averaging 28 points per game. He finished his career with over 25,000 points and was the first player in NBA history to record 2,000 points in eight consecutive seasons. He also was an eight-time All-Star and his uniform number has been retired by both the South Carolina Gamecocks and Denver Nuggets. He is also part of the College Basketball and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

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