Mile High, Baby! Scenes From the Nuggets Championship Parade

Hundreds of thousands of people flooded Civic Center Park to celebrate the Denver Nuggets' first National Basketball Association Championship in its 47-year history as a team.

Fans who've been riding the waves with the team from the start as well as those who just became part of Nuggets Nation joined together for a parade and rally earlier today, June 15. Even NBA finals MVP Nikola Jokic, who'd expressed shock that he had to stick around for the parade, couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"I know I told [everyone] I don't want to stay for the parade, but I fucking want to stay on parade," the Serbian sensation told the crowd.

The M-V-P chants for Jokic couldn't be suppressed. But perhaps the most effervescent person at the parade was coach Michael Malone, who sported a shirt depicting the Larry O'Brien championship trophy underneath the words, "Put this in your pipe and smoke it."

Malone continually flashed his chain at the crowd, pumping up those in attendance and bringing them into what became an emotional celebration of the champions.

"Nuggets Nation, I love you," Malone proclaimed. "Nuggets Nation, let’s do it again."

He called this championship win the beginning of a dynasty for the team, and couldn't stop giving shout-outs to the roster that made everything happen. Malone called out Christian Braun, a rookie from Kansas who won the NCAA Men's National Basketball Championship in 2022 before joining this winning team. He called out Jeff Green, who'd been in the league for sixteen years before this victory.

Braun was the youngest member of the team who played regularly and Green was the oldest. Neither wore a shirt for most of the festivities.

Much to Green's surprise, Malone asked him to close out the rally.

"All I got to say is Mile High, baby!" Green declared.

But that wasn't really the end, as Malone led the crowd in the Nuggets' famous chant: "family" on three. Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown also took the mic at the end of the event.

"I love you," Gordon told the crowd. "We're going to run this back."

Gordon is the favorite player of two fans at the rally, Avery Rollins and Miguel Canales. Rollins is a new fan, explaining that he just became an official Nuggets lover this week after growing up in Denver and merely liking the team casually.

"It's great to celebrate my home team once again," Rollins says.

For Canales, the win hits deeper. He grew up in Aurora, and says he's been a Nuggets fan his whole life. The second the team won the championship, he knew he'd do anything to be at the parade. He works at APS Avenues, which helps students recover credits in the Aurora Public School system.

Canales says when he told his boss about the parade, she closed the office for the day so everyone could come and mark the occasion.

"I was just in awe," he says of the moment the team won on June 12. "It's something to be proud of."

The entire city is pretty proud of its team. The only person who spoke at the rally who didn't have to wait for cheers to die down was outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock, who has greeted with boos.

But Hancock persisted, eventually earning plenty of cheers as he praised Jamal Murray — his favorite player. Murray has been with the team since 2016. He and Jokic are known for their two-man game, and they became the only teammates ever to average 25 points, five rebounds and five assists for an entire playoff run.

As the last of the players to be introduced, Murray carried the trophy out onto the rally stage. He and Jokic had to be escorted to the stage by a SWAT team after elated fans flooded the parade route.

Members of the Nuggets team traveled together on fire trucks from Union Station to Civic Center. The most memorable truck was the one carrying Braun and fellow rookies Jack White and Peyton Watson. Braun wore a makeshift wrestling belt, and Watson and White hyped up both the crowd and their colleague.In what has been a rainy and cloudy June, the sun shone brightly for the parade and Civic Center rally, matching the vibe of the fans and the team. Green poked fun at Kentavious Caldwell Pope, calling him "KC-Two-Rings" in honor of the fact that this is Caldwell Pope's second NBA championship win after he won with the Lakers in 2020.

Even the possibility that one of the team's key players from the championship run, Bruce Brown, might not return next season because of contract and salary reasons couldn't keep the team down. In fact, Malone used the rally as a chance to persuade Brown to come back.

"Y’all tell me, is Bruce going anywhere? Hell, no," the coach said.

The main theme of the rally, though, was that the Nuggets are here to stay — and that Denver is fully behind them. As Malone pointed out, this is the city's second year with a championship parade; the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup last year. He promised to bring the city a third year of back-to-back championship wins next season.

"Everyone on this stage, we're not satisfied with one," he said. "Who wants another?"