Denver Nuggets: Taking a look back at the original Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets of today are one of the four remaining surviving teams from the American Basketball Association, or ABA. However, there was an NBA team known as the Denver Nuggets before this current version

Today, I’m going to talk about the two Nuggets teams, and how they compare to the Charlotte Hornets. Don’t worry; we’re going to dive into all of this history. What else is there to talk about?

So, the original Denver Nuggets lasted for only one NBA season. This was the 1949-50 season. They finished 11-51, which is not good. At all. Back then, the NBA was not anywhere close to being a big deal like it is today. Back then, plenty of teams shut down mainly due to finance issues. The league wasn’t popular, and only the good teams that pulled in crowds survived.

There isn’t a lot to talk about for this team, but they did inspire the current team.

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The current Denver Nuggets, just like the original, didn’t start in the NBA. Yes, the original Nuggets team started in the National Basketball League. They joined the NBA via the NBL and BAA (Basketball Association of America). Yes, this original Nuggets team was one of the original NBA teams.

So, our current Nuggets team was from the ABA. The ABA, in my personal opinion, is some sort of step child, like Cinderella, of the NBA. While the BAA and NBL merged, the NBA sort of absorbed the ABA, but never really counted the ABA stats as part of NBA stats. On some level, that makes sense, which I might talk about another time.

The current Nuggets’ first season was in 1967-68. However, they were known as the Denver Rockets. They changed their name to the Denver Nuggets for the 1974-75 season. From what I could research, they changed that name because of the original Nuggets.

The city of Denver grew attached to that “Nuggets” name from, at the time, almost 20 years ago. So, the Denver Rockets, when deciding a new name, went with the Nuggets. They were anticipating the move to the NBA, so they decided to keep the original NBA name.

However, the current Nuggets and original Nuggets don’t share history. This is somewhat different from what we know about the Charlotte Hornets. With the Hornets, we see the current Hornets were given the original Hornets’ history, even though they are from two separate chains of existence. If you look at history, the NBA actually had 28 teams for one season. It’s weird. I’ll probably talk about that at another time as well.

Anyway, the current Nuggets didn’t absorb the original Nuggets existence. I think there’s a reason for that. I didn’t research this. This is just my guess: The current Nuggets are not a “true” or “original” NBA team. They started from the ABA, and the NBA doesn’t really talk about the ABA. They just don’t.

Both of the Hornets started in the NBA, so I guess the NBA felt it was easier to merge the history. I think there’s a deal with cities holding a name. People say the city of Seattle probably holds Super Sonics forever. I don’t know if there’s any legal agreements where a city holds a name right for the league.

If that were the case, I actually think the NBA should merge the two Nuggets of their history. At the same time, I actually don’t like the idea. I mean, look at my Sixers. If another team moves to Syracuse and makes another Nationals team, the Sixers could lose an NBA championship, and a few hall of famers. They are also no longer considered an original NBA team, and there are all kinds of stuff to deal with.

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Look at Philadelphia. What if the Sixers renamed themselves after the first Philly team, now known as the Golden State Warriors?

In the end, I wouldn’t want to lose team history for city history. That’s what this post is all about, if I had to sum it up. The battle of city vs team history. Which side are you on? You follow the team, or the city?