Detour Is Up Against the Wall, Trying to Finish Nuggets Mural Before Parade

Thomas Evans, the muralist known as Detour, is working on his Denver Nuggets mural at Colfax Avenue and Race Street. Wearing a black sweatshirt and bucket hat splattered in paint, he's easily recognizable as the artist behind the mural, which caught the attention of the city and beyond (including a spotlight in the New York Times) while the Nuggets vied for — and ultimately won — the NBA championship.

"People come by every second," Evans says with a grin as he hurries to finish the piece the day before the Nuggets parade and rally. "A couple from Serbia came by, so that was really fun. They came for a wedding but stayed for the Nuggets. A friend in Serbia sent them this mural, and they wanted to check it out, so they came through."

An older man comes up and asks Evans if he can take a picture with him at the mural. He's wearing a shirt touting the Denver Rockets (the basketball team's original moniker), and says he was at the very first game. Evans poses for the photo and the man shakes his hand. "Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate you," he says.
Evans is known for painting murals of people who inspire him, and he's been a big Nuggets fan since he moved to Denver in 2006. Back in February, he painted a mural of Nikola Jokic on a wall at 2420 Curtis Street, "just for fun," he says. The wall he's currently painting, next to the 7-Eleven at 1975 East Colfax Avenue, has been a canvas for him since 2020. When his first mural here, of George Floyd, began to chip, he covered it with a nurse from Denver Health. "It just became too much of a hassle to kind of keep redoing, so I was like, let's just come out and do a Denver Nuggets mural here," he says.

So far the mural depicts Jokic, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown and Michael Porter Jr. Fellow muralist Patrick McGregor is helping out today, drawing in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, while Evans works on illustrating the trophy in the middle; he also wants to add Jeff Green. He's hoping to have the mural close to completion before the Nuggets celebratory parade starts at 10 a.m. today, June 15.

"I want to make sure this is ready before the parade is done, because I know people will want to stop by, especially if they're driving from out of town just to go to the parade," Evans says. "They know about the mural, and they want to get pictures with the mural. So I want to make sure that this is pretty much at an adequate sort of stopping point."

This mural isn't all Evans has going on, of course. The artist will be creating an installation for Denver International Airport made out of recycled luggage (he's taking luggage donations through an online form), with an expected installation in 2025. He's also partnered with Topo Chico to create a Local Flavor Guide that showcases his favorite spots in Denver, which will be released with a video interview on June 27. In the meantime, keep up with Evans's mural progress by following his Instagram @detour303.