10 must-see games of the Denver Nuggets 2026-27 season

The Denver Nuggets’ schedule was released in full on Thursday ahead of the 2026-27 season, and there are 10 matchups every basketball fan in Colorado should circle.

The Nuggets have had a quiet offseason — with the biggest question still looming in Peyton Watson’s restricted free agency. But the Nuggets have lost more than they’ve gained, seeing Tim Hardaway Jr., last year’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate, go to the Miami Heat. He was one of a few bigger names that exited and in return, Denver has added Marvin Bagley III and Alpha Diallo via minimum contracts.

David Adelman enters his second full season as head coach with a new lead assistant in Dave Joerger, and the core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson remains intact. But the depth that pushed Denver to 54 wins is thinner, and the Nuggets aren’t in a good position to improve their roster through the year.

Not every game matters, even if they all do in the standings. After three consecutive playoff heartbreaks — each more deflating than the last, culminating in a first-round exit at the hands of the Timberwolves in six games — these are 10 games that should end up being must-see. They’re either meaningful tests for the Nuggets in 2026-27 or bring some extra spice in another way. A few more will pop up as the season plays out, but as of August, this is what’s worth watching.

Oct. 22 AT Oklahoma City – Opening Night

Opening night is always worth a watch, and this one carries juice beyond the ceremonial. Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the two most recent MVPs — meet on the third night of the NBA season, prime time on ESPN at Paycom Center. The 2026-27 MVP race could run through these two again, and this is the first live look at how they stack up.

But this isn’t the same Oklahoma City that beat the Nuggets in seven games in 2025. The Thunder dipped below the second apron this summer, trading Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe for a pile of second-round picks.

SGA, Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are still there, but the depth that made OKC feel unbeatable got meaningfully thinner.

Denver’s opener last season, at Golden State on ESPN, was an absolute banger — Gordon and Steph Curry trading 3s into overtime in one of the best games of the 2025-26 campaign.

Oct. 24 vs New Orleans – Home Opener

The real question hanging over Ball Arena for the home opener: How will the crowd receive David Adelman?

Adelman’s last home game was a Game 5 win against Minnesota in the first round that began with the Denver crowd booing their coach. The Nuggets fell behind in that series and despite a bunch of injuries to the Wolves, Denver was eliminated rather lifelessly. Many thought the Nuggets would be quick to axe Adelman, especially given the quick trigger on Michael Malone. But somehow Adelman survived. Though the club has forced Dave Joerger onto his staff to either help or babysit the young bench boss.

As for the opponent: New Orleans visits with new coach and former CU Buffs player Jamahl Mosley. The Pelicans are everywhere early for Denver — the Nuggets play the Pels three times in the first 11 games, including a trip to the Smoothie King Center on Oct. 28. They’re not expected to be a good team, having been at the bottom last year and following it up with possibly the quietest summer in the league.

Nov. 7 vs Indiana — Mexico City

The Nuggets head south for the NBA Mexico City Game at Arena CDMX, facing the Pacers on a Saturday afternoon at altitude — just not Denver’s altitude.

Mexico City sits at roughly 7,350 feet. For once, the Nuggets aren’t the ones with the home-court elevation advantage (technically it’s the Pacers), and the thin-air environment should produce a track meet between two of the league’s most entertaining offensive teams. Indiana went to the 2025 Finals with the fastest pace in the NBA, and while that core has changed, many expect a healthy Tyrese Haliburton to push the Pacers back to the playoffs in the East.

It’s also just a cool moment on the calendar. The Nuggets are one of a few teams — along with the Spurs and Pels, who each play twice in Europe in January — representing the league on an international stage this season. It’s a big spectacle game and the atmosphere should be really fun in Mexico City.

Dec. 15 AT Portland — Jokmas

Jokmas falls on a nationally televised road game in Portland this year, and the Blazers suddenly have real intrigue. Ja Morant — who tormented Denver for years as the engine of some dangerous Memphis teams — is now in Rip City after being traded for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray this summer. Morant alongside Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson and Deni Avdija is one of the most fascinating roster experiments in the West.

Portland made the playoffs last season as a surprise, and adding Morant — health permitting — could push the Blazers into genuine contention. His ability to turn games into his personal highlight reel gave the Nuggets fits, and his high-wire act is always appointment television, especially when paired with the shooting ability of Lillard, who returns to Oregon.

For Denver, it’s always a special day as Nuggets fans remember the day everything changed for their club — an anniversary of when Jokic became a full-time starter in 2016 and beginning the rise that would lead to the franchise’s first title in 2023. This one is the 10th anniversary, so maybe it’s a bit more special — and that contest all those years ago was also against the Blazers.

Dec. 25 AT Golden State — Christmas

The Nuggets are back on the NBA’s marquee day for the fifth consecutive year, drawing the Christmas nightcap at Chase Center — 8:30 p.m. MT on ABC, the final game of the day.

Denver has produced some electric Christmas moments this decade. The 2025 overtime thriller against Minnesota, featuring one of the best individual Jokic performances in NBA history. Aaron Gordon’s poster against Phoenix in 2022. The 2023 showdown against these same Warriors, which Steve Kerr responded to with a legendary postgame rant about the officiating. Jokic is 4-3 on Christmas Day.

But the Warriors are no longer what they were. Golden State spent the summer chasing LeBron James, who spurned the Bay to sign with Philadelphia. Jimmy Butler tore his right ACL in January, and Moses Moody sustained a torn left patellar tendon in March. The roster around Curry is thinner than at any point in the dynasty era’s aftermath. Still, Curry is always must-see TV.

Dec. 28 vs Minnesota — Redemption?

This is the first crack at the Timberwolves, and it doesn’t come until Game 31, when Minnesota visits Ball Arena on Dec. 28 on NBC. The rivalry’s first act this season lands after the Wolves retooled — LaMelo Ball now running point alongside gunner Anthony Edwards.

Minnesota eliminated Denver in six games in the first round, the third time in four postseasons these teams have met. The two teams now have real shared history and the smack talk only elevated last year during the playoffs — which was all backed up by a heavily-injured Minny team that advanced anyway.

The rivals run it back three days later on New Year’s Eve in Minneapolis on Prime Video, part of a brutal late-December gauntlet that includes trips to the Clippers (Dec. 21), Lakers (Dec. 23) and Christmas at Golden State before these two Minnesota games. It could be the schedule’s toughest 10-day window.

Jan. 2 vs New York — Champs are here

The reigning NBA champions come to Ball Arena.

The Knicks won it all last June, beating the Spurs in the Finals, and they return the bulk of that title roster. New York is the measuring stick for the entire league entering 2026-27, and any game against the champions needs to bring out the best version of the Nuggets.

Denver’s own championship, in 2022-23, feels further away than ever. The Nuggets know what those rings look like and how fast the window closes. Seeing someone else’s banner raised is supposed to sting. A Saturday afternoon at Ball Arena is a chance to remind the league that Denver’s core still belongs in that conversation.

Feb. 28 AT San Antonio / March 3 vs San Antonio

Circle these two games as one!

Denver plays San Antonio three times between Feb. 28 and April 9, and two of those come practically back-to-back: at Moody Center in Austin on Feb. 28 (ABC), home for Brooklyn on March 1, and then right back against the Spurs in Denver on March 3 (ESPN). There’s nowhere to hide when you see the same team twice in four days. For the Spurs, it is consecutive games against the Nuggets.

The Austin showcase on the University of Texas campus is an ABC afternoon game — one of the league’s premier slots. Victor Wembanyama remains the only player in the NBA who has consistently bothered Jokic, and every time these two are on the floor together, it’s a generational collision. The last time they played, late in the regular season last year, was one of the best games of the entire NBA year. The Spurs made the Finals last year and returned the core of that team, and the Nuggets can prove something that Sunday and try to do it again a few days later on ESPN in Denver.

March 28 vs Philadelphia — LeBron and Embiid?

This could be LeBron James’ final game at Ball Arena and Joel Embiid’s first game in Denver since 2019. Or, maybe, neither of these things happen!

James will be 42 at tip time — signing with the 76ers in what was the summer’s biggest free-agent splash, teaming with Jaylen Brown, who came over from Boston in the offseason’s biggest trade, with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey still in the City of Brotherly Love.

If James returns for a 2027-28 season, he’ll get another crack at Denver. If not, March 28 is the last time he’ll play a game in the building where he battled with Carmelo Anthony for so many years and saw his Lakers get swept in the 2023 Western Conference Finals.

Then there’s Embiid. The former MVP has played in Denver twice in his entire career. He always finds a way to dodge the annual matchup — injuries, rest, load management, cosmic alignment. So much so that any Embiid sighting at altitude has become a rumor-mill event in its own right. The Sixers are the most hyped offseason team in the East, but Denver fans will believe Embiid is suiting up at Ball Arena when they see him take the jump ball.

April 9 AT San Antonio / April 11 vs Oklahoma City

The Nuggets close the season against the Spurs and the Thunder. These two games are either going to be the most important of the regular season or the most meaningless. There’s no in-between.

In each of the last three years, Denver’s playoff seeding has come down to the final days, with the penultimate and final games carrying enormous weight. For the second straight year, the opponents are the two best teams in the West — a Friday night in San Antonio on Prime Video and a Sunday home finale against the Thunder.

The basketball itself may not be pretty. Late-season games between resting playoff teams rarely are. But the stakes matter more than the style. If Denver is fighting for a top-four seed, or for home court, or to avoid the play-in, these games become everything.

The OKC bookend — opening the year at Paycom Center, closing it at Ball Arena — feels like the league office daring the Western Conference to sort itself out on the final day. We’ve seen how this movie ends for Denver, they want to beat a bad Spurs team, they don’t and end up playing and losing against the Wolves — they want to lose to a good Spurs team, they don’t and end up playing and losing against the Wolves.

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