Ohm YoungmisukESPN Staff Writer Oct 24, 2023, 7:03pm ET6 minutes read
Courtesy of Jason from Beverly Hills
Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone always believed that no NBA championship ring could top the two titles his late father Brendan won with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990.
Malone looked at his father’s memorabilia from his time as an assistant coach to Chuck Daly and architect of the Bad Boys’ “Jordan Rules” defense and thought that was the standard.
“My dad has two of these from Detroit, so that was the ring I envisioned,” Malone said last week after the Nuggets’ preseason game against the LA Clippers. “But this is like a normal ass school ring.” 1698194799.”
Malone wanted to show his father, whom he considered his best friend, his new championship ring. Brendan died on October 10th at the age of 88.
“My father and I are the only father-son [coaching] “It is the only duo in NBA history to wear both world championship rings,” Malone said. “That makes it even more meaningful for me and my family.”
Malone said his mother kept his father’s rings “in his underwear drawer” rather than in a locker.
“That’s probably where mine will be,” Malone told reporters in Denver on Monday.
But Malone knows it will be difficult to simply put the rings, which will be handed out before Tuesday’s season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers to commemorate Denver’s first NBA title, in a drawer.
“What they’re doing now is these things are opening up,” Malone said, “and they’re shooting beams out of them.”
Jason Arashaben, CEO of Los Angeles-based jewelry house Jason of Beverly Hills, didn’t shine, but instead made sure the Nuggets’ new jewelry stood out unlike any other. After making rings for other championship teams — the Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vegas Golden Knights and Las Vegas Aces — Arashaben knew he had to design something different for Denver.
“From what I’ve heard through the grapevine,” Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who owns a 2020 Lakers championship ring, told ESPN during a preseason game last week, “it’s better than any ring he’s made has.”
Caldwell-Pope won’t be disappointed. The emerald-shaped ring is set with 16 carats of diamonds representing Denver’s 16 postseason victories. The front features the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the words “Nuggets” set in diamonds and a silhouette of Denver’s mountain peak and pickaxe logo.
A ring within a ring? The pull-out feature displays the Denver Nuggets championship banner. Courtesy of Jason from Beverly Hills
But the Nuggets ring has two unique features that are not available at all in Arashaben. At the top is a lever that shifts from 1967, the year the Nuggets were founded in the ABA, to 2023, while also changing the color of the background from white diamonds to blue sapphires. A pull-out tray on the left side of the ring reveals the 2023 Nuggets Championship banner that was raised at Tuesday’s ceremony.
“This is definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite,” Arashaben told ESPN. “We are the first to develop the concept of the screw-off lid to show whether it is the inner shell.” [of SoFi Stadium for the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI ring] or the discarded jerseys [the Lakers’ 2020 title ring].
“But [the Nuggets’ ring features] This has never been done before in jewelry or championship rings.”
In addition to white and yellow diamonds and blue sapphires, there are 89 red rubies honoring the number of points Denver’s defense scored against the Miami Heat in the title-clinching victory in Game 5.
Denver’s rings are full of hidden references to the Nuggets’ history and their run to the 2023 NBA title. Courtesy of Jason from Beverly Hills
Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke was involved in designing the rings from start to finish. He’s had some recent experience in that department since his father, Stan Kroenke, runs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Nuggets, Rams and Colorado Avalanche. The Rams and Avalanche both won championships in 2022.
“Fortunately, we’ve been really fortunate and fortunate over the last couple of seasons,” Josh Kroenke told ESPN. “I asked [Arasheben] What special features could we incorporate from the nuggets? I don’t want to make a screw-off lid. I don’t want anything that’s been done before.
“We are one of four franchises that were merged from the ABA to the NBA, so we have that date there as a nod to our ABA past, which I really wanted to acknowledge. And that’s what all the players and coaches will do, no. No matter where they go with that ring, they always have the banner with them, which I think is a very special and unique feature.”
The blue background of the Denver Nuggets’ NBA championship ring can be converted to white – a nod to the franchise’s ABA days. Courtesy of Jason from Beverly Hills
After Aaron Gordon celebrated the Nuggets’ championship win over Miami by running through the streets of Denver in just his basketball shorts, the power forward hosted a postgame party. Arashaben, who attended the game and counts Gordon as a customer, fitted Nuggets players at the party for their ring sizes and asked for input on the ring’s features.
With Kroenke’s blessing, Arasschenken traveled to Summer League in Las Vegas in July to consult again with Nuggets players such as Caldwell-Pope, Gordon, Deandre Jordan and Jeff Green. Arashaben said Green, now with the Houston Rockets, was among the most vocal with ideas for the design, having played 15 seasons before winning a title.
“We’ve kind of set a benchmark for how big we can get with these rings,” Arashaben said. “If it’s bigger, it’ll be the size of a dinner plate. They still wanted big, they still wanted flashy. The first thing players always say to me is, ‘Make sure that shit shines.’
“But what I noticed is that they now consider the actual design in addition to the flash. And with this year’s Nuggets, they made a point of having lots of colors and not allowing them to be drowned out by just white diamonds.”
Reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic received his championship ring against the Lakers on Tuesday night. Courtesy of Jason from Beverly Hills
Neither of them knew about the two special features. “I hope it’s big and full of rocks,” Gordon told ESPN last week after the Nuggets’ preseason game against the Clippers.
Finals MVP Nikola Jokic now has to keep track of two rings he doesn’t want to lose. Just don’t expect Jokic to tie that ring to the laces of his shoe every game like he does with his wedding ring.
“It’s definitely a health hazard if that thing bounces around on its shoes,” Kroenke said. “This ring is way too big and way too heavy.”