Fifty-Nine Years of Change, One Partnership That Didn't
Denver's franchise has changed its name, its owners and nearly its city, but not the pairing of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, together now for a decade and still the core the team is building around.
The Nuggets have been the Larks, the Rockets and finally the Nuggets, cycling through ownership almost as often as identities. What has held since 2016 is Jokic finding Murray, a partnership now in its eleventh and tenth seasons for each.
A Name That Took Three Tries
The team started as the Denver Larks in 1967, became the Rockets under trucking owner Bill Ringsby, and only took the Nuggets name in 1974, ahead of the franchise's planned move to the NBA, because Houston already held the Rockets name. Ownership passed from James Trindle to Ringsby to Red McCombs, then to Sidney Shlenker and COMSAT, before Stan Kroenke closed a $450 million purchase of the team and Ball Arena in July 2000. In fifty-nine years, the franchise has retired one number: Fat Lever's, honored during a win over the Lakers on December 2, 2017.
A Loss to the Same Rival
On this date in 2020, September 20, Denver lost at Los Angeles 103-105 in the playoffs, with Jokic and Murray already the pairing running the offense.
Three Years Later, the Same Matchup Flipped
In 2023, Denver swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals, the franchise's first-ever playoff series win over Los Angeles, and went on to beat Miami for its first championship, with Jokic named Finals MVP. It was the payoff for years of the same two players, not a new addition.
What Denver Is Protecting Now
Jokic and Murray enter 2026-27 in their eleventh and tenth seasons, the pairing unchanged even as the roster around them keeps turning: Bruce Brown left for the Knicks on September 16, Cam Whitmore signed a two-way deal two days later, and Peyton Watson is no longer with the team. The payroll sits at $221.1 million, above the $200.4 million tax line and close to the second apron, the reason the front office has little room to reshape this group if it falters this season. The continuity is the asset. The math is what could end it.
How long have Jokic and Murray played together in Denver?
Since Denver drafted Murray in 2016, making 2026-27 their tenth season together, with Jokic entering his eleventh year and Murray his tenth.
When did the Nuggets first beat the Lakers in a playoff series?
In 2023, when Denver swept Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals on the way to the franchise's first championship.
