Hundreds of thousands flood downtown Denver for parade celebrating Nuggets’ first NBA championship

As hundreds of thousands of cheering Denver Nuggets fans filled downtown, Jeff Green made one thing clear: they weren’t the only ones longing to be champions. 

“I’ve been waiting 16 long-ass years for this,” the player known as Uncle Jeff told the teeming crowd at a victory rally outside the Civic Center, to a fresh wave of shouts and applause. 

And teammate Jamal Murray let fans know the feeling was mutual, too.

“Y’all give me energy, we give you energy,” Murray said during his turn at the microphone. “We’re champs for life.”

The fans and their heroes converged Thursday morning in a raucous celebration of the Nuggets’ history-making championship, their first in the team’s 47-year history.

A two-hour parade kicked off at 9 a.m. outside Union Station, as kids danced in the fountain while their parents watched, decked out in jerseys, championship tees and chains. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock estimated the crowd at 700,000 to 1 million people.

Cheers erupted on one end of the Wynkoop and traveled in a wave as festivities got under way. Throngs of people chanted “Let’s go, Nuggets!” and many waved flags that read, “Denver First Time Champions.” Much of the thunderous praise was for Nikola Jokić, the 6-foot-11 Serbian who was the star of Denver’s  4-1 game championship run against the Miami Heat. 

Jokić rode fire truck No. 15, of course, along with his young daughter, his brothers and other Nuggets, including Jamal Murray.

“MVP! MVP!” the crowd chanted as Jokić smiled and waved. On the truck with him were the championship trophy and his MVP trophy.

One fan held a sign reading, “Let Joker go home!” — a nod to Jokić’s widely publicized comment this week that the Denver parade would keep him from returning home to Serbia, where he has a horse race on Sunday.

The fire truck that carried Jokić and others hit and seriously injured a Denver police officer as it rounded a corner near the end of the parade route, police said. The officer is in serious condition at a hospital and could lose a leg, and the incident remains under investigation.

For Fatah Sow and Neveah Sanford, both 19 of Aurora, the day of celebration offered a rare, exciting opportunity: the chance to proudly declare their status as lifelong Denver Nuggets fans. 

“You couldn’t really let it be known before now,” Sow joked after the pair rode the A-Line to Union Station in Denver and joined the massive street party.

Paradegoer Doug Garcia, of Wheat Ridge, said he’s been waiting for this day since 1976, the year he was born and the year the Nuggets joined the league. He said he knew it would happen as early as Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals — the moment Jokić hit a quarter-ending three-pointer over Anthony Davis of the LA Lakers. “He hit that and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s over.’ I had more confidence going into the finals than I had doubt.”

Xavier Lewis, of Denver, says he felt sure even earlier. When the trade deadline passed, he started to feel like they could win it all, he said. “We finally had a healthy season, and we had a bunch of selfless players surrounding the best player in the NBA. He should have gotten that third MVP, but that’s neither here nor there.”

With some Denver teams, it just takes patience, Lewis added.

“Better late than never,” he said of the Nuggets’ championship. “But there will always be another parade.”

Large video screens were set up in front of the Capitol, playing highlight reels from the Nuggets’ historic season, ahead of a noon rally on the steps of the City and County Building, facing Bannock Street.

Team officials, players, coaches and other Denver and Colorado dignitaries gathered on a stage as Coach Michael Malone flashed his chain at the crowd, to roars. He wore a T-shirt that says, “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it” — quoting his earlier advice to national media who treated the Nuggets as an afterthought in their series against the Lakers. 

Players came out one by one to greet their fans, with the starting five taking their positions last. Jamal Murray hoisted the championship trophy and thanked the crowd for its energy.

Jokic stepped up next, but couldn’t make himself heard over the chants of “MVP!”

“I know I told that I don’t want to stay on parade,” he said. “But I f—— want to stay on parade. This is amazing. We’re all going to remember this our whole lives.”

The Nuggets won their first NBA title Monday night with a Game 5 victory against the Heat.

Thursday’s festivities came amid temperatures in the 60s and 70s with slightly overcast skies that turned dark in the early afternoon. 

Denver police were also investigating a shooting after the parade that wounded two people at 17th and Curtis streets. The victims were in serious condition, and the shooter remained at large Thursday afternoon, police said. 

The attack was unrelated to the celebration, authorities said. 

Police made two arrests during the parade — one for a weapons violation and the other involving a person who was in a disturbance and was found to have an open arrest warrant.