Nuggets fans have already experienced a full range of emotions in the 21st century.
It started with a transfer of team ownership, a new arena to break in and the accompanying renewed hope for the future after a decade of bleak basketball. It stalled with years of playoff disappointment and a falling out with Denver’s franchise player. It peaked two years ago with the city’s first NBA championship, under the guidance of an idiosyncratic all-time great.
All in all, the Nuggets have reached the playoffs 17 out of 25 seasons in the new millennium, winning 55% of their regular-season games with nine 50-win seasons. They’ve won 12 playoff series. They’ve had only five All-Stars — but three of them have been inducted to the Hall of Fame, while another has three MVP awards and counting.
We all love a round number, so to reflect on the last 25 years of basketball — almost half of the franchise’s existence under the “Nuggets” name — we assembled The Denver Post brain trust to vote on an All-Quarter Century Nuggets Team.
Five of our staffers who cover the Nuggets voted on a First Team and a Second Team. Five players who received votes but didn’t make the 10-man rotation were also included as reserves.
The voting body was made up of yours truly, sports columnist Troy Renck, sports columnist Sean Keeler, sports editor and Nuggets Ink Podcast host Matt Schubert, and photographer and Nuggets Ink producer AAron Ontiveroz. Note: Statistics and accolades before the 2000-01 season were not taken into account in the voting process.
First Team
Point guard: Chauncey Billups (2008-11)
When building a ceremonial fake roster like this, there’s an inherent conflict between longevity with the team and short-term excellence. Mr. Big Shot technically played only one full season in Denver during the 2000s (but more than half of two other seasons). He made the most of his 201 regular-season games, averaging 18.1 points and 5.1 assists. He earned an All-Star nod and finished 12th in 2009-10 MVP voting.
More importantly, in 2008-09, Billups helped lead his hometown team to its first Western Conference Finals appearance in 24 years. The George Washington High School and CU alum shot 46.8% from 3-point range during that 16-game playoff run, averaging 20.6 points and 6.8 assists.
As a result, Billups was a First-Team honoree on all but one ballot. He’s best remembered nationally as a Finals MVP with Detroit, but his significance to Denver basketball history adds to his case here.
Shooting guard: Jamal Murray (2016-present)
One of the best players of his generation to never make an All-Star Game or All-NBA team (yet), Murray lacks the on-paper success of a few other Nuggets stars this century. Yet his status in franchise history is undeniable: He was one of three unanimous First-Team honorees in our vote.
Murray established a reputation as the quintessential “playoff riser” in the 2020 bubble, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NBA into quarantine. His battles with Donovan Mitchell were legendary. His iron will contributed to six consecutive wins in elimination games as Denver made it back to the WCF for the first time since 2009.
The torn ACL that knocked Murray out of two postseasons remains a major “what if” in Nuggets history. Could they have won the 2021 or 2022 championship with a healthy star guard? In his first season back from the injury, Murray was the ceiling-raiser Denver needed during a dominant run to the championship. His and Nikola Jokic’s dueling 30-point triple-doubles in Game 3 of the NBA Finals will immortalize Murray no matter what the future holds. He also had a not-so-sneaky case for Western Conference Finals MVP that year: 32.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
Small forward: Carmelo Anthony (2003-11)
Denver’s Carmelo Anthony (15) and Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant (24) share a hug before Game 4 of their Western Conference playoff series on Monday, April 28, 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
It’s complicated, we know. But Carmelo erasure is just plain irresponsible. He was too good, too important to an entire era of Denver basketball. When you envision the baby blue uniforms, you probably think of him first.
Anthony saved the Nuggets before he walked out on them (if that’s what you want to call it). They were on a streak of eight consecutive losing seasons when they drafted him third overall in 2003. Then they proceeded to make the playoffs in all seven seasons he finished with Denver. The first-round exits are certainly part of his legacy, but he brought back competitive basketball after a decade of futility.
Anthony played more games for the Nuggets (564) than for any other team, including the Knicks. He was a four-time All-NBA honoree in Denver, a four-time All-Star. He averaged 24.8 points and 6.3 rebounds. He got the team within two wins of the NBA Finals against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. Then came the infamous 2011 trade, the origins of which are still being litigated on podcasts and social media to this day. Much less controversial was Anthony’s First-Team status here. He was unanimous.
Power forward: Aaron Gordon (2021-present)
Nikola Jokic described Gordon during the 2025 playoffs as “the soul of this team.” Trading for the former Orlando Magic first option elevated the Nuggets to a new echelon of championship contention. In four full seasons (so far), he has morphed his play style to complement Jokic, transforming into a super-role player and becoming a fan favorite in the process. Hence his place here, with three First-Team votes.
The stats don’t jump off the page, but the versatility is unparalleled. Gordon is a power forward in the traditional sense, but the Nuggets have used him as a point guard, a center, and almost everything in between.
He cemented his legacy this year with a pair of memorable game-winning buckets: the first buzzer-beater slam dunk in NBA playoff history, and a 3-pointer to complete a stunning comeback in Oklahoma City. Even though Denver didn’t win the title, fans will relive those moments for decades.
Center: Nikola Jokić (2015-present)
Awkward yet graceful, perpetually battle-scarred by his dominant physicality yet possessed by a preference for finesse, Jokic is a revolutionary center. His spot on this roster was always going to be the most obvious and anticlimactic. The more suitable topic for him is where he lands in relation to John Elway and Joe Sakic on the list of greatest athletes in Denver sports history.
Ten years in, he’s still adding to the following accolades: three MVPs, an NBA Finals MVP, seven consecutive All-NBA teams (five of them First-Team recognition). He just joined Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players to average a triple-double in a season. He’s on pace to break Westbrook’s career triple-doubles record. He’s the first player since Larry Bird to finish top-two in MVP voting five straight years. We could go on, but this paragraph might be outdated soon.
What can’t be expressed in those numbers is the lasting impact of the Joker: No basketball player has ever brought Coloradans as much joy and wonder.
Second Team
Point guard: Ty Lawson (2009-15)
Two Second-Team spots required a tiebreaker, including this one. A pair of us voted for Lawson, another pair for Andre Miller. The only person who omitted both from his ballot was Ontiveroz, so he was consulted for the deciding vote and chose Lawson, citing the “pure excitement” of watching him. Lawson averaged 14.4 points and 6.2 assists over six years in Denver. He finished 12th in MVP voting as the star of a 2012-13 Nuggets team that won 57 games — still tied for the most in franchise history.
Shooting guard: Allen Iverson (2006-08)
Another case of short-term elite play over longevity, Iverson played only 135 games as a Nugget but was an All-Star twice, joining Jokic and Anthony as the only players this century to represent Denver at multiple All-Star Games. In his one full season with the team, he averaged 26.4 points and 7.1 assists. Iverson received one First-Team vote in this exercise (over Billups).
Small forward: Michael Porter Jr. (2018-25)
MPJ is the fourth member of the championship team to make the cut. Recently traded to Brooklyn, his time in Denver was characterized by immense medical resilience. Porter overcame three back surgeries to average 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds over 345 games, many of them while wearing a brace on his foot. He ranks second in franchise history in 3-pointers (843) behind Murray, and he made them at a 40.6% clip.
Power forward: Nenê (2002-12)
The initial vote was deadlocked between Nene and Kenyon Martin, both of whom received one First-Team and one Second-Team vote. Keeler was assigned the tiebreaking vote in this case, and he chose the Brazilian forward who spent a decade in Denver. In 555 games, Nene averaged 12.4 points and seven rebounds, registering career-highs in both statistics during the 2008-09 season when Denver reached the conference finals.
Center: Marcus Camby (2002-08)
Center was the only position where all five voters agreed on the First- and Second-Team selections. Camby led the league in blocks per game three times in his six years with Denver. He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2006-07, making him the franchise’s only player to win the award since Dikembe Mutombo.
Reserves
An NBA roster isn’t complete without 15 players, so the All-Quarter Century Team has room for a Third Team made up of the following leftover vote-getters: Andre Miller, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danilo Gallinari, Kenyon Martin and Antonio McDyess (a 2001 All-Star).
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