The Denver Nuggets are back at it after a heartbreaking loss over the weekend. The Nuggets once again find themselves in the spotlight with another national TV game, though I’m sure the execs over at NBC were thinking tonight’s contest was going to be more ballyhooed than it actually is. As it turns out, Denver’s opponent tonight, the Philadelphia 76ers, are still a quality team, but not the Eastern Conference juggernaut they were viewed as just a couple season ago. This is largely due to the health, or lack thereof, including that of star Joel Embiid. Philadelphia is dealing with a litany of injuries this season but unlike the Nuggets, they aren’t nearly as close to a return to health (or in one case, compliance with the league’s PED policy). All-star guard Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre…all out tonight.

The Basics

Who: Denver Nuggets (41-27) vs Philadelphia 76ers (37-31)

When: 8:00PM MDT

Where: The Can. Denver, CO.

How to watch/listen: NBC, Peacock, Altitude Sports, Altitude Radio 92.5FM

Rival blog: Liberty Ballers

The Matchup

Injury report: Peyton Watson – out (hamstring), DaRon Holmes II – out (G-League), Curtis Jones – out (G-League), KJ Simpson – out (G-League); Joel Embiid – out (oblique), Tyrese Maxey – out (finger), Paul George – out (juice), Kelly Oubre – out (elbow), Jabari Walker – out (illness), Johni Broome – out (knee).

The Three Things

The thing to watch for: bounce back game from Jamal

Jamal Murray had the worst performance of his season on Saturday vs the Los Angeles Lakers, I expect he’ll right the ship tonight. He’s also got a fairly positive matchup. While V.J. Edgecombe is certainly a talented rookie, he’s still a rookie and guarding Jamal-star is a tall task, especially when you consider Edgecombe is the only thing resembling a scorer on Philadelphia’s active roster right now and will likely be expending a large amount of energy trying to get past Christian Braun. My hope is Jamal lets the game come naturally tonight, but don’t be surprised at all to see him come out of the gate very aggressive.

The thing to remember: These guys get paid to

Yes, the Sixers are decimated. Yes, they are missing their top two players and several role players…can you say trap game? Coming off a big game that they lost in heartbreaking fashion might help the Nuggets here, they should be fully focused on getting a win. We’ve seen this story before too many times though. The Nuggets have been guilty of overlooking inferior opponents and ending up with terrible losses. There’s no room for that now in the ultra-tight 3-6 seed race in the Western Conference. They need to put this one out of reach early and make sure they don’t get caught letting the Sixers believe they can steal a victory at Ball tonight.

The thing to bet: Tim Hardaway Jr. over 2.5 threes (+132)

Look, we know Tim’s going to shoot at least three threes, and probably quite a few more. The only question is how much he will make? I don’t see a ton of reason to think he won’t hit three or more tonight so long as his shot is falling. So far in March he has averaged 2.9 makes on 6.5 attempts so recent history suggests he is very capable of hitting the over and at +132 that’s a bet to take.

The offseason has already been a good one for Broncos cornerback Riley Moss.

Denver’s third-year cornerback finished No. 12 in performance-based pay and brought home an extra $1,136,103 because of it.

That nearly doubles Moss’ pay for the 2025 season considering he had a base salary of $1,245,266.

Performance-based pay is supplemental income distributed each year to players by the NFL based on a formula that weighs playing time against base salary. It is part of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association and has been in place since 2002.

The Broncos are the only NFL team to not yet sign a free agent. What’s the strategy?

Any player who plays a snap is eligible and many players receive at least some money, but players who have low salaries and end up playing a lot are typically in line for the biggest distributions.

Moss started all 17 regular-season games for the Broncos and logged 97% of Denver’s defensive snaps while also chipping in 15% of the club’s special teams snaps.

The performance-based pay pool continues to rise across the league. After distributing a total of $452 million a year ago, the league distributed $542 million this year. That means each club’s roster received a total of $16.65 million, up from $14.13 million a year ago.

Behind Moss, four other players topped $800,000: Center Luke Wattenberg ($887,647), nickel Ja’Quan McMillian ($866,178), offensive lineman Alex Palczewski ($853,302) and outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman ($808,853).

Most of the top of the list is young players on rookie contracts or former undrafted free agents. The rest of Denver’s top 10 went WR Troy Franklin, OLB Jonah Elliss, All-Pro special teamer Devon Key, RB Tyler Badie and DL Eyioma Uwazurike.

Established players and top draft picks can earn a good bit of extra money too, though.

Safety Talanoa Hufanga logged 97.7% of playing time based on the calculations and took home an extra $427,726. Starting quarterback Bo Nix got $369,400 and all-pro left guard Quinn Meinerz was right after him at $308,969.

On Saturday, the community had the opportunity to weigh in on Denver’s plans for Burnham Yard, the area identified as the preferred site for a new Broncos’ stadium. The city is planning to build a new stadium and a mixed-use district in the area.

“We’re keeping the Broncos in Denver, and we’re gonna have a brand new stadium that maybe we can have new concerts because it will be able to have a dome, maybe one day house the Super Bowl. Those are exciting things,” said Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez.

City council members say the project is not only about the stadium, but also the future of Denver’s industrial corridor. The Burnham Yard Small Area Plan hopes to include recommendations for affordable housing, public infrastructure, parks, open space and other considerations.

La Alma Neighborhood Association member Helen Tiron said, “I think the move to redevelop that railroad system and that 160 acres, I see that as positive. But not to enter our community. Not to impose themselves on us.”

City leaders are asking the public for input as they create designs for the district. They acknowledged that some people in the area are concerned about noise, the lengthy construction project and the preservation of historic land.

Hundreds of community members from La Alma-Lincoln Park, Baker and other neighborhoods have shared their ideas for the potential redevelopment of the site. In the first round of surveys, residents said their priorities are parks and open space, protecting current residents and businesses, and honoring the neighborhood’s history.

“Overall, I think any time we talk about returning land and river corridor back to its natural state, it always comes with a conversation about our American Indian history and community,” said Councilwoman Jamie Torres. “We have very real Colorado history that took place in this neighborhood that we want to make sure gets acknowledged.”

For those who missed the meeting and still want to provide input, there’s an online survey available on the City of Denver’s website.