The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team was originally founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), but changed their name to the Rockets before the first season began due to a swift ownership change that came from the owners of the local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines company. The Rockets then changed their name to the Nuggets on August 7, 1974, as a precautionary measure for their franchise to move from the ABA to the NBA. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets.