539 days.

That’s how long it’s been since the Denver Nuggets were last healthy. Jamal Murray went down days after the team traded for Aaron Gordon, ending a several-game stretch of gorgeous basketball with the two, Michael Porter Jr. and Will Barton surrounding would-be MVP Nikola Jokic.

Two Jokic MVP wins, a shocking playoff series win followed by losing eight of their last nine in the postseason, and a 331-day-long Porter injury, and the Nuggets are finally back. Well, mostly.

Barton is gone, traded for Kentavious Caldwell Pope in the offseason, and KCP, alongside Murray in the backcourt, and Porter, Gordon, and Jokic are all on the floor opening the preseason on Monday at Ball Arena. This feels like a monumental day for the Nuggets.

539 days
12936 hours

We’ve missed you @BeMore27

Welcome back GOAT pic.twitter.com/SW4Jt0mjjk

— Nikola Jokić Fan Club © (@njokicfanclub) October 3, 2022

Finally, the budding star guard Murray can pick up where he left off. Now the oft-injured Porter can try and recapture his incredible shooting. And most of all, Jokic and Gordon, who have carried the team for nearly two years, can take a deep breath because the reinforcements are here.

When the Nuggets were last healthy in the playoffs, Murray, Porter, Jokic, Barton, and Jerami Grant fell to the eventual champion Lakers in tight Western Conference Finals. While the Nuggets have been stuck in rehab, the west has weakened around them. An entire Phoenix Suns window has opened and closed, the Jazz have blown it up, the Blazers are a very different team, the aged LeBron James-led Lakers have been a disaster, the Warriors won a title a few months ago but had to cut salaries, weakening their depth, and the Clippers have been stuck with many of the same injury issues the Nuggets have. And those are just the teams Denver has recently run into in the playoffs.

If Denver is to ever win the west for the first time, the window could be now.

Meanwhile, Altitude TV has been off of Denver’s TV for well over 539 days, so if you missed the moment all of the Nuggets got back, here are some highlights.

Folks, starting lineup intros were something else.

Jamal Murray received a big ovation. So did Michael Porter. pic.twitter.com/0bG9v4xKp2

— Ryan Blackburn (@NBABlackburn) October 4, 2022

THEY CALL HIM AIR GORDON FOR A REASON pic.twitter.com/5EFXacTUUl

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) October 4, 2022

All smiles from Jamal after his first bucket 🥹 pic.twitter.com/iiME6g2UCZ

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) October 4, 2022

Murray, Jokic, MPJhttps://t.co/5zx0t9AAtH pic.twitter.com/IjqbJNpiAP

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 4, 2022

Welcome back Jamal. pic.twitter.com/7VTbAMNUZ3

— Dlynch_Esq #StandWithUkraine (@dlynch_esq) October 4, 2022

Denver’s season beings in earnest later this month on the 19th in Utah.

Nuggets Nation!!!! We Back Babyyyyy #MilehighCityyyyyBabyyyyy LEMME HEAR YALLLLLLL??? 🦻🏽 pic.twitter.com/w3PChZhhAy

— Bones Hyland (@BizzyBones11) October 3, 2022