Ranking the Nuggets’ 3 Toughest Road Trips on 2026-27 Schedule

The Denver Nuggets are around six weeks away from tipping off their 2026-27 regular season campaign.

And throughout their 82-game stretch that'll be underway from October to mid-April, the Nuggets are going to be faced with a handful of tough road trips; extended stretches in which they're away from home, and against some pretty respectable talent on the other side in the process.

Really, when taking a step back to look at the Nuggets' schedule, there's three road trips that stick out as more challenging tasks to traverse through. And all of those matchups actually come in a pretty narrow pocket of the schedule from late November to January.

Let's rank which three road trips on the Nuggets schedule stand out as their most challenging within their 2026-27 season:

3. 2-Game Road Trip, Jan 27th to 30th

Apr 23, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) works around Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) in the third quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Schedule: @ MIN (1/27), @ OKC (1/30)

This is a brief time away from home here for the Nuggets, just a couple of weeks away from the All-Star break, but there's no shortage of competition that Denver will be faced with in both of these meetings.

The Nuggets will start off taking the road to face the team that took them out in last year's postseason in the Minnesota Timberwolves, then take a couple of days' rest before facing off against the OKC Thunder, who Denver is 3-7 against in their last 10 meetings.

Splitting these games 1-1 would be a strong result for Denver. Coming away with a win in both would be a major success.

2. 4-Game Road Trip, Jan. 7th to 12th

Mar 6, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) drives past Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun (0) and center Nikola Jokic (15) in the second half at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Schedule: @ CLT (1/7), @ CLE (1/9), @ NYK (1/11), @ MIL (1/12)

The only other road trip the Nuggets have in January outside of their two-game stretch against those Western Conference contenders is this four-game slate here. Denver will have a nice seven-game home stretch after these matchups unravel, but these are sure to be a noteworthy test for this roster.

They start with a trip to face the Charlotte Hornets, then take the road to play the Cleveland Cavaliers and Peyton Watson for the first time since their recent trade, then quickly pivot to the reigning champion New York Knicks. After their trip to Madison Square Garden, Denver has a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks.

So there's a lot of competition for the Nuggets to face in a short amount of time. Softer matchups like Charlotte and Milwaukee should allow Denver to hit at least .500 in this stretch, and possibly higher.

1. 4-Game Road Trip, Nov. 27 to Dec. 2nd

Jan 16, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) controls the ball against Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) during the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Schedule: @ UTA (11/27), @ TOR (11/29), @ DET (11/30), @ PHI (12/2)

This feels like where the Nuggets' road tests reach their toughest difficulty throughout their entire 82-game slate. That's because all four matchups are against talented teams likely to be over .500 by the time we get to the end of the season.

Denver starts with a trip to face the Utah Jazz and their wildly improved roster from last season. Then, they have a back-to-back against the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors and last year's one-seeded Detroit Pistons. Then, they finish off their four games with contests against the Philadelphia 76ers; their first time seeing LeBron James in his new uniform.

There's a lot of star power, and honestly, some tough environments for the Nuggets to face across this six-day span, which comes right before the NBA Cup finishes up in Las Vegas the week following. Even going .500 through these would be a serviceable outcome for Denver.

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