Perhaps no Nuggets player in the 1980s defined mental toughness and determination more thoroughly than Mike Evans. An All-American basketball player at Kansas State, Evans was drafted by the Nuggets in 1978, but was dealt on draft night and did not begin his playing career until 1979.
The Nuggets re-acquired Evans on Jan. 12, 1983, signing him as a free agent – and Evans quickly became an integral cog on some of the most successful teams in Nuggets history. The Nuggets were in the playoffs in all of his six seasons with the team.
He simply gave the Nuggets whatever the team needed at the time.