Denver Nuggets Logo

The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball franchise based in Denver, Colorado. Owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the team competes in the NBA’s Western Conference. Their home games are held at the Ball Arena.

Meaning and history

The Denver Nuggets, established in 1967, are a seasoned professional basketball team in the NBA. Founded as the Denver Larks, they’ve later renamed to Nuggets. The team, which proudly stands among the top-tier teams, boasts several significant achievements, including multiple division titles. As of now, under the ownership of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, they compete in the NBA’s Western Conference and continue to show promising performance on the court.

What is Denver Nuggets?
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as part of the league’s Western Conference.

1968 – 1971

The team, known today as Denver Nuggets, was initially called Denver Rockets, so its first two badges featured the original wordmark. The logo, used by the team at the end of the 1960s, was composed of a red roundel with black lines making up a basketball. The roundel was enclosed into a red and white frame with a black outline and was overlapped by a red rectangular banner with the black uppercase “Rockets” written across it.

1972 – 1974

The redesign of 1972 has created a playful cartoonish emblem, executed in a purple and yellow color palette, it was a funny running rocket with a ball, drawn in the center of a white roundel with a purple outline. The name of the club was arched above and under the purple and yellow rocket, and executed in the uppercase of a modern sans-serif font, with all the characters painted purple.

1974 – 1976

In 1974 the club got renamed Denver Nuggets, and its logo was completely redesigned. This is when the official mascot of the team, Maxie the Miner was first introduced. It was a red-bearded man in a blue uniform, drawn in the center of a white circular medallion, which was outlined in blue and had blue lettering with the new name of the club on it. The unscripted was set in an extended serif font, looking completely different from the previous version.

1976 – 1981

In 1976 the Denver Nuggets logo was simplified yet became stronger and gained a more professional look. The circular outline was removed from the composition, as well as the lettering, and now Maxie the Miner became the only element of the badge. The contours of the man were strengthened, and the colors of his beard and uniform became more intense.

1982 – 1993

The redesign of 1982 removed the funny mascot from the primary logo of the club and introduced a modern geometric image with a super delightful color palette. The new badge featured half a circle shape, with the city landscape drawn in rainbow-colored stripes and squares. The emblem was placed above the bold stylized lettering with the name of the club, set in a futuristic designer typeface, in black.

1994 – 2003

In 1994 the Denver Nuggets logo was redrawn again. Now the emblem was composed of a blue and white mountain peak triangular image, overlapped by a bold golden “Nuggets” lettering in the uppercase of a geometric serif font, with the white “Denver” lettering written over a red arched ribbon.

2004 – 2008

The redesign of 2004 has kept the composition of the previous Denver Nuggets logo, but changed its color palette, adding more sun and air to the badge. The dark gilt lettering turned yellow, while the mountain peak was redrawn in a lighter shade of blue with white. As for the red ribbon, it became sky-blue, and the white lettering remained untouched.

2008 – 2018

Another change in the Denver Nuggets’ color palette happened in 2008. The yellow and blue shades of the logo became deeper, creating a more confident and professional look of the recognizable badge.

2019 – now

The redesign of 2019 has introduced a completely new version of the Denver Nuggets’ visual identity. The new badge features a circular shape with a solid blue background and a double outline in yellow and red. The central part of the logo has a smaller roundel, outlined in red, with an image of two crossed miner hammers, a mountain, and a basketball. The name of the club is written around the perimeter of the badge in bold white capital letters of a fancy geometric font.