Once a day until opening night, Oct. 22. Twice a day after that — morning and evening.
The long road · 1967 to now
Fifty-six years to a banner. The window is still the argument.
From a truck-line ABA team to a 41st pick who became the offense. The Nugget keeps the history, the roster as it actually is, and one filed edition a day until the games count.
Two days to Boulder. The real season starts in Oklahoma City.
The Nuggets open preseason Sunday against Utah at CU Events Center — their first game in Boulder in more than a decade — still built around Nikola Jokić, and with DeMar DeRozan newly on the bench. Jokić has already said the sentence Denver wanted on the record: he plans to sign next summer if the franchise wants him.
Sunday, Oct. 4, 5:00 p.m. MT: Jazz at Nuggets, CU Events Center, NBA TV. Denver returns the game Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
The expected starters — Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Jokić — shared the floor for only 23 games last season and went 18–5.
2025–26 finished 54–28, third in the West, and out in six to Minnesota. The defense has ranked 21st for two straight seasons. That is the question David Adelman cannot coach around.
Murray played 75 games and posted career highs of 25.4 points and 62.2% true shooting. Gordon played 36. Health, more than scheme, decides how far this group goes.
In: DeRozan, Marvin Bagley III, Trevon Brazile, Alpha Diallo, Bryce Hopkins. Out: Peyton Watson (sign-and-trade), Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown.
Opening night is Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Thunder, 7:30 p.m. MT on ESPN. The home opener is Saturday, Oct. 24, against New Orleans at Ball Arena.
Watch. Whether Adelman keeps DeRozan as a sixth man or lets the veteran scorer share the floor with the starters. Sunday in Boulder is the first look, not a verdict.
Jokić and Jamal Murray took Denver through a Western Conference Finals sweep of the Lakers and then past Miami in five. Jokić was Finals MVP. Michael Malone coached it. Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Bruce Brown were the rest of the closing group.
They were the last of the four surviving ABA franchises to reach an NBA Finals, and the second to win the series. The banner is real. The three seasons since have ended before the second weekend of the playoffs got comfortable. That is the tension this desk is written in.
