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Denver Nuggets (U.S.)

National Basketball Association

Team logos and flags
Pepsi Center flags

See also:

Team

The "Denver Nuggets" (commonly shortened to "Nuggets") are a professional basketball team based in Denver, CO. The team was originally founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), named after Colorado's state bird, but changed their name to the Rockets before the first season began due to a swift ownership change that came from the owners of the local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines company (a source claims the team did not have a logo nor a flag: https://moneyinc.com/denver-nuggets-logo, but another source claims they did: https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/denver-nuggets-history).

Denver Rockets Logos

images located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Sources: http://www.remembertheaba.com/denver-rockets.html

Denver Nuggets - first logo 1974-1976

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: hhttps://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

The Rockets then changed their name to the Nuggets on August 7, 1974 via a contest as a precautionary measure for their franchise to move from the ABA to the NBA since another franchise team from Houston had the same name. The origin of the name is mainly attributed to the mining surge in the State both during the XIXth and XXth centuries in the State but also to honor the Denver Nuggets NBL team from 1948 to 1950, the last year as a charter member of the NBA following the BAA merging operations with the NBL to create the modern-day NBA. Thus Maxie Miner was created as the team’s mascot.

They played their games at McNichols Sports Arena (1975-1999) and moved to the Pepsi Center (1999-2020) when Pepsi acquired naming rights, to be renamed Ball Arena when Ball Corporation acquired naming rights on October 22, 2020.

During the Nuggets' final two seasons in the ABA (1974-1975 and 1975-1976), the team's logo featured a cartoonish miner known as "Maxie The Miner," with a large red beard, a pick-axe in one hand and a red and blue basketball in the other hand.

Denver Nuggets - second logo 1976-1981

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: hhttps://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

When the Nuggets joined the NBA in the 1976–77 season, they retained the pick-axe logo. A slight variation was done for during 1976-1981 where the blue circle was omitted.

Denver Nuggets - third logo 1982-1993

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

Denver Nuggets - third logo 1982-1993

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

The third Nuggets logo was a semicircle that encompassed the Denver skyline rendered using rainbow blocks while being backed by the Rockies in white in a stand-out shade of white. Beneath the whole thing was “Denver Nuggets” (in black or white letters) which lasted from 1982 until 1993.

Variant flag

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

Denver Nuggets third logo using the fifth logo's color scheme and wordmark over a flag, 1982-1993 variant) (picture taken August 11, 2014 inside (then) Pepsi Center (1999–2020))

Denver Nuggets - fourth logo 1994-2003

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

Denver ditched their rainbow colors for a dark navy, metallic gold and wine color scheme starting in the 1993–94 season featuring a snow capped mountain with the city's name in white capitals and the team’s name below.

Denver Nuggets - fifth and sixth logos 2004-2008

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

During the 2003 season, the team also updated their logos and uniforms, based on the previous logo with a new color scheme of powder blue, gold and royal blue; the latter color was changed to navy blue in 2008 (other source mentions royal blue in 2004).

Denver Nuggets - seventh logo 2019-

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo

In 2018, the team went back to their mining roots and featured two crossed pickaxes which frame a mountain peak on the top and a basketball on the bottom, inside a navy blue background circle, with two concentric equal circles in crimson and gold.

For additional information go to NBA Nuggets (official website): http://nba.com/nuggets
Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026

Pepsi Center flags

First design

image located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Source: source: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Ball_Arena

images located by Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026
Sources: https://ladygaga.fandom.com/wiki/Pepsi_Center

As for the venue logo and flag, it first had the initial Pepsi Center logo (1999-2009) then the second Pepsi Center logo (ca. 2009/2010-2020). Since the second logo version was featured on a flag at the stadium's entrance flagpole, it is most likely the first logo was also displayed on a flag.

Sources: https://www.ballarena.com/arena-information/about-ball-arena>
http://www.remembertheaba.com/denver-rockets.html
https://www.lines.com/nba/history-of-nba-teams/nuggets
https://1000logos.net/denver-nuggets-logo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Nuggets

Esteban Rivera, 1 June 2026