NBA Champions ·
2023 Denver Nuggets
The 2022-23 Denver Nuggets won the first championship in franchise history, beating the Miami Heat in five games. Nikola Jokic, a second-round pick taken 41st overall, won Finals MVP and put up numbers no center had matched in a Finals. The night Denver drafted him in 2014, ESPN cut to a Taco Bell commercial.
Denver finished 53-29 and took the top seed in the West, the first time the franchise had ever held it. The team was built almost entirely from within: Jokic in the second round, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. in the first, Aaron Gordon by trade. There was no marquee free-agent signing.
Jokic was the engine. He averaged a triple-double across the playoffs and controlled games with passing as much as scoring. Murray, two years removed from an ACL tear, hit big shot after big shot, with stretches where he outscored opponents on his own.
The Nuggets handled Phoenix and swept LeBron James and the Lakers in the conference finals. In the Finals they beat an eighth-seeded Miami team in five, dropping only Game 2 at home.
Bruce Brown gave them a connective scorer off the bench, and Christian Braun played rotation minutes as a rookie. Nine years after the commercial-break draft pick, Jokic had a ring and a Finals MVP.
Championship roster
Featured in Ring Holders Club
| Player | Role | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Jamal Murray | PG | 85 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | SG | 76 |
| Michael Porter Jr. | SF | 80 |
| Aaron Gordon | PF | 80 |
| Nikola Jokic | C | 97 |
| Christian Braun | 6th man | 76 |
| Michael Malone | Coach | 85 |
Ratings are year-specific curated estimates for Ring Holders Club, not official NBA stats.
Rest of the roster
| Player | Pos | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Brown | G | bench scorer and playmaker |
| Jeff Green | F | |
| DeAndre Jordan | C | backup center |