Altitude will continue to produce the broadcasts shown on Denver’s KTVD-20 and KUSA-9, according to a news release from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Nuggets, Avalanche and Altitude.

All 40 games included in the renewed deal will air on My20 (KTVD-20), while five of the 20 Nuggets games and five of the 20 Avalanche games will also appear simultaneously on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

The initial deal, announced last September, coincided with KSE’s introduction of a paid-subscription streaming service called . The streaming option costs $19.95 per month or $199.99 per year and allows access to all Nuggets and Avalanche games not televised exclusively on national networks.

“Last season’s overwhelming community response to this partnership reinforced our commitment to ensuring that the fans who support the Nuggets and Avs can cheer on their favorite teams even when they can’t be with us at Ball Arena,” KSE president of team and media operations Kevin Demoff said in a statement Monday.

Here’s the full list of games that will be available over-the-air for free.

Nuggets games free to watch over the air: 2025-26 TV schedule

• Suns at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Oct. 25 (KTVD-20)

• Pelicans at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Oct. 29 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Trail Blazers, 8 p.m. Oct. 31 (KTVD-20)

• Heat at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Nov. 5 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Timberwolves, 6 p.m. Nov. 15 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Grizzlies, 6 p.m. Nov. 24 (KTVD-20)

• Mavericks at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 1 (KTVD-20)

• Magic at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 18 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Jazz at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 22 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Celtics, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 7 (KTVD-20)

• Wizards at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Jan. 17 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Wizards, 5 p.m. Jan. 22 (KTVD-20)

• Nets at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Jan. 29 (KTVD-20)

• Knicks at Nuggets, 7 p.m. March 6 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Thunder, 5:30 p.m. March 9 (KTVD-20)

• Mavericks at Nuggets, 8 p.m. March 25 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Jazz, 7 p.m. April 1 (KTVD-20)

• Trail Blazers at Nuggets, 7 p.m. April 6 (KTVD-20)

• Grizzlies at Nuggets, 7 p.m. April 8 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Spurs, 6:30 p.m. April 12 (KTVD-20)

Avs games free to watch over the air: 2025-26 TV schedule

• Stars at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Oct. 11 (KTVD-20)

• Bruins at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Oct. 18 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Oilers, 8 p.m. Nov. 8 (KTVD-20)

• Sabres at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Nov. 13 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Rangers at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Nov. 20 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Islanders, 5 p.m. Dec. 4 (KTVD-20)

• Predators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Dec. 13 (KTVD-20)

• Jets at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Dec. 19 (KTVD-20)

• Senators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Jan. 8 (KTVD-20)

• Maple Leafs at Avalanche, 8 p.m. Jan. 12 (KTVD-20)

• Predators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Jan. 16 (KTVD-20)

• Red Wings at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Feb. 2 (KTVD-20)

• Wild at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Feb. 26 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Kings, 8:30 p.m. March 2 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Kraken, 8 p.m. March 12 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Blackhawks, 6:30 p.m. March 20 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Jets, 6 p.m. March 26 (KTVD-20)

• Flames at Avalanche, 7 p.m. April 9 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Oilers, 7:30 p.m. April 13 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Flames, 7 p.m. April 14 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

The Avs’ regular-season opener will be quickly followed by a pair of home games against Utah (Oct. 9) and Dallas (Oct. 11) at Ball Arena, kicking off a schedule that concludes with a home game against Seattle on April 16.

The season begins earlier than normal in order to make room for a 20-day break for the Winter Olympics at Milan and Cortina, Italy, in February. The Avs will play 12 back-to-back sets of games, and March is the busiest month on the schedule with 15 total games. A seven-game homestand will run between Jan. 8-23 — the first such homestand since the 2020-21 season.

The Avs are also set to play a franchise-record 18 afternoon games during the regular season, five of which will be at Ball Arena.

Single-game tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., while season tickets and partial deposits are already open. For more information, visit nhl.com/avalanche/tickets.

All 82 games will be available on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM or 950 AM. Altitude TV broadcast dates will be revealed at a later date.

Colorado Avalanche 2025-26 schedule

(Click here to view schedule in mobile.)

Smith added, “a programming error occurred that ended the live broadcast early for some viewers.” Instead, a documentary on Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic aired.

“We sincerely apologize to all Avalanche fans watching on Xfinity who were unable to see the third period of last night’s game,” . “… We take full responsibility for this and deeply regret that you missed out.”

Altitude TV returned to Comcast in February after being unavailable on the cable platform for nearly six years due to a carriage dispute. During that span, both the Nuggets and Avalanche captured championships and saw their star players win MVP awards.

In this particular gag, our man Bugs is getting Yosemite Sam all worked up again. The long-eared galoot draws a line in the sand and dares Sam to cross it. Sam does. He does it again. Sam crosses it again. Bugs keeps drawing lines and backpedaling out of town, through the desert southwest, and eventually up a slope. Eventually, Bugs draws a line that will clearly leave Sam’s right foot dangling over a cliff and send him careening from great cartoon heights into a deep gorge below. Sam crosses the line anyway and, sure enough, falls.

Six years ago, KSE said that it was balking

Five years ago, same line. Same complaint. Four years ago, same line. Same complaint.

Then three years. Then two.

This past Tuesday, Altitude held a news conference to triumphantly announce its return to Xfinity customers — on a separate, premium, sports-related tier. Sam crossed that line after all.

KSE-Comcast dispute finally ending — A-minus

Now it’s not a letter-perfect comparison, and any deal that makes the best two teams in town — the Nuggets and Avalanche — available to a majority of Front Range television homes is better than no deal.

Although, did we mention that all sides also announced, as part of the agreement, that the said separate, premium sports-related tier, was increasing in price in April from $9.99 per month to $15.95? Just in time for the playoffs.

The RSN model is fading, yet the over-the-air ratings for the Nuggets and Avs were reportedly solid enough to keep Comcast at the bargaining table. These are good things. But to the scorekeepers in the GTW crew, there was only one winner in the Altitude-vs-Comcast standoff, ultimately — and it was the latter. By a nose.

Sadly, the victory was largely symbolic. Because there was a heck of a lot of losers. Denver fans, some of whom missed one of the greatest seasons in Nuggets history (’22-23) and the Avs’ first title-winning team (’21-22) in roughly two decades, were chief among them.

Necas vs. Mikko — B

Meanwhile, when it comes to the biggest trade of the winter,  the deal that sent Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen to Carolina, the only fair judgment will come after the Stanley Cup Playoffs for both Colorado and the Hurricanes. That said, Team GTW can’t deny that the cat-quick, 26-year-old Necas has come out of the gate faster than the Moose in his new digs. From Jan. 31-Feb. 7, the new Avs forward piled up four goals and an assist in five games — and the burgundy and blue won four of those five heading into the 4 Nations break. Rantanen, meanwhile, put up a goal and two points over his first six games since joining Carolina. And the ‘Canes, as of Saturday morning, were 2-4 since the trade. Time will tell, but maybe there’s something to this whole “Nathan MacKinnon Effect” after all.

Calvin Booth — D

The trade deadline came. The trade deadline went. Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric are still here. The Nuggets general manager threw his bench under the bus. He threw their contracts under the bus. But how come he didn’t find room under said bus for the guy who gave out those deals to begin with? Booth caught lightning in a bottle in helping the Nuggets win their first NBA championship two years ago. Too bad he never found a cork.

Altitude Sports and Comcast have reached a new carriage agreement, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment announced Tuesday, ending a bitter contract dispute that caused local blackouts of Nuggets and Avalanche games dating back to September 2019.

Since then, both teams have won championships in their respective leagues, signifying a golden era of professional sports in Colorado, where Comcast is the largest cable provider.

Altitude, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network that broadcasts Denver’s NHL and NBA franchises, will begin airing on Comcast’s Xfinity cable service Tuesday evening, when the Avs play the Vancouver Canucks.

“We owe an apology to our staff, to our players, to our coaches, to our front office, and most importantly to our fans,” Kevin Demoff, KSE president of team and media operations, said during a Tuesday morning news conference at Ball Arena. “Every game we missed this year was a game too many.”

Demoff, who already worked closely with team owner Stan Kroenke as president of the Los Angeles Rams, took over Altitude oversight in March 2024, inheriting the Comcast stalemate after Matt Hutchings resigned from KSE the previous month.

“When I stood up here a year ago and promised that we would get these teams back on the air,” Demoff said, “I thought it would be quicker.”

In an attempt to navigate around the standoff, Demoff helped KSE launch a streaming platform called Altitude+ last October, selling subscriptions for $19.95 per month. In addition, 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avalanche games are being televised over the air this season on My20 (KTVD-20), with 10 of those games also appearing on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

Now with the renewed Comcast agreement, Altitude will also be available on Xfinity’s “More Sports and Entertainment” add-on package, which currently costs $9.99 but will increase to $15.95 on April 8. The package also includes CBS Sports, ESPNU, Big Ten Network, ESPNews, MLB Network, NFL Network and NHL Network. Altitude will be on channel 1250.

Neither KSE nor Comcast disclosed when the new contract ends. Demoff, asked when the two sides will have to enter into negotiations again, said, “I hope that (fans) never feel this pain again.”

Demoff credited Denver Mayor Mike Johnston for his persistence in urging on negotiations. Johnston, who attended Tuesday’s news conference wearing a Nikola Jokic jersey, described the multiyear blackout as a “tragedy.”

“We’ve been working on just to bring everybody to the table,” Johnston said. “So I was doing a lot of shuttle diplomacy back and forth. Sometimes it was when I was at a game here, running down one hall to talk to the Comcast folks then back down to talk to Kroenke people. Keeping them at the table and just keeping them focused on how important this was for fans.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also weighed in on the resolved dispute with a statement Tuesday, saying: “After far too long a wait, Comcast and Altitude are finally putting Coloradans first, allowing us to watch our world-class Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. This means that more Colorado fans and kids can grow up watching the greatness of players like Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Nathan McKinnon, Cale Makar and many others without their families jumping through hoops.”

Jokic has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award three times in the last four seasons while the contract dispute was ongoing. MacKinnon won the NHL’s Hart Trophy last year, marking the second time in NBA and NHL history that both MVP winners have played in the same city. Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky accomplished the feat in 1989 while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings.

“This is an incredible day for Denver sports fans. … It is an absolute gift to be able to watch some of the greatest athletes in sports history playing in your hometown every night,” Johnston said. “Sometimes it is just 30 minutes when you’re washing dishes or 30 minutes when you’re doing homework with the kids. … You might have missed some of the last five seasons, but there’s plenty of great play coming.”

Nuggets and Avalanche games will soon be available via a paid-subscription streaming service, with select games also set to be broadcast over-the-air on Denver’s KUSA-9 and KTVD-20, KSE announced Thursday morning.

The company plans to debut a streaming service called Altitude+ in October, when both teams begin their 2024-25 seasons. All games not aired exclusively on a national network will be available to stream. Subscriptions will cost $19.95 per month ($239.40 per year).

A total of 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avs games will be televised over the air for free on My20 (KTVD-20). Ten of those games will also appear on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

The news comes five years into an ongoing carriage dispute between Comcast and Altitude Sports, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network, which has resulted in Nuggets and Avalanche games being blacked out for Comcast subscribers.

Altitude Sports and its game broadcasts have been available as a channel on DirecTV, Fubo and Spectrum TV. They still will be — but now a combination of streaming and over-the-air broadcasts will give fans another avenue to bypass blackouts.

“It’s huge news. Great news. And obviously I know it’s something that Josh (Kroenke) and the entirety of KSE have been working very hard on for a long time now. … The most important part of that is for our fans,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I feel we have the best fans in the NBA, and they’ve been a huge part of our success. And now the fact that our fans can watch the Nuggets play is going to be great, because that’s one thing you hear as you walk or drive around town is that there are people who haven’t been able to watch the Nuggets or the Avalanche. And obviously both teams are in the middle of historic runs with great players. And we want our fans to see as many games as possible.”

The Altitude+ application will be available for download on Apple and Android devices first, and indications are that a smart TV version of the app will be released a few weeks later, though KSE hasn’t provided a specific launch date yet. Subscriptions will include access to pregame and postgame coverage, as well as the network’s standard college coverage of Colorado State, Air Force and the University of Denver.

Nuggets and Avs games televised over the air on KUSA-9 and My20 will be produced by Altitude Sports with the same talent, including Nuggets play-by-play announcer Chris Marlowe and Avalanche play-by-play announcer Marc Moser.

“You want those people who’ve become synonymous with Altitude and the Nuggets and the Avalanche to be the people that (fans) see on streaming and over-the-air,” Kevin Demoff, KSE’s president of team and media operations, told The Denver Post. “It’s important to us that no matter where you watch our broadcast, on Channel 9, Channel 20, on Altitude+, on Altitude, that it looks and feels the same. That you’re getting the exact same experience no matter where you watch.”

The contractual dispute between KSE and Comcast coincided with widespread strife for regional sports networks and a revolution in live sports streaming. Other sports franchises previously established the standard for pivoting away from RSNs in favor of the two-pronged approach KSE is now adopting: old-school broadcast TV combined with new-school, self-started subscription services.

The dispute has also coincided with an unprecedented era of success on the ice and on the hardwood for the teams owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022. The Nuggets followed with their first NBA championship in franchise history in 2023. Avs center Nathan MacKinnon and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic both won the most valuable player award in their respective leagues in 2024 — the first time that the NBA and NHL’s MVP winners have hailed from the same city since Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky in 1989.

The excellence of both teams was perpetually at arm’s length from local sports fans, however. In November 2019, Altitude filed a lawsuit against Comcast after its carriage deal lapsed two months earlier, accusing Colorado’s largest cable provider of violating antitrust laws. The lawsuit was settled in March 2023, but the two sides remained at a contract impasse, keeping Nuggets and Avalanche games blacked out on the cable provider’s platform.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reported in February 2022 that Altitude registered an NBA-worst 0.19 rating in the Denver market — the lowest TV number recorded in any pro hoops market for nearly two decades. In February 2024, Matt Hutchings, the KSE executive who had overseen Altitude, resigned. He was replaced the next month by Demoff, who swiftly acknowledged streaming and over-the-air television as possible paths forward in his introductory news conference.

“What I’m most excited about is that our passionate fans can now see Nikola Jokic play basketball. They can see Nathan MacKinnon play hockey,” Demoff told The Post. “We’ve had two MVPs. We’ve had two titles. And unfortunately those haven’t been on air. I’m most pleased that now there’s an option that gets all of our games on air. But I do think as we grow our reach and our scope with these teams and the fan bases, that we can help find younger fans. We can grow that next generation. I think streaming is a great way to do that.”

“I take all the responsibility for that,” Stokley, the ex-Broncos receiver and , told me after the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am on Wednesday at Castle Pines Golf Club. “That was my fault. We shouldn’t have hit the driver there, we should’ve hit the wood.”

Only Peyton Bleepin’ Manning could win a pro-am with one of the worst shots known to man. On the first hole of the morning, the Broncos icon lined up in the tee box on No. 1, drew the club back and let go with one hand,

“Anyone see where that went?” Manning cracked, turning back to the gallery. Who’d all been there. Many, many, many, many, many, many, many times.

“One of us!” the crowd chanted. “One of us! One of us!”

Bloodied but unbowed, PFM walked over and gave Stokley, , a high-five.

“It’ll take the blame for that,” Stokley said with a chuckle. “It was on the receiver, it was on his caddie, for that 50-yard topped shot.”

In Stoke’s defense, there was a reason Manning’s clubs weren’t top-of-mind at that moment. See, the former Broncos wideout was doing the math in his head as to how many golf balls they’d have left to give away by the end of the round. The plan for Manning, once he’d finished a hole, was to retrieve the ball, sign it, and present it to a kid in the crowd. A souvenir for life.

No good deed goes unpunished, of course, and Stokley found himself doing a mental supply count fairly early into the round.

“I got worried after three holes, because he’d lost four balls in three holes,” Stokley recounted. “I said, ‘Buddy, you can’t give out (one at every hole). We’ve gotta start rationing the golf balls a little bit or I’m going to be digging into Wyndham Clark’s bag, stealing his golf balls.'”

They did it anyway.

“I mean, we all like to try to put ourselves in challenging situations, right?” Manning said when asked about his muff heard ’round the world.

“So I knew playing this course was hard. With Stoke clubbing me and reading my putts, it made it even harder. So no, not an easy course to walk, much less carrying the bag. So I appreciate Stoke answering the bell, and (it was) fun to be out here with a friend and (a) mate.”

•�Ģ�Ģ

This was supposed to be fun, right? Country star Luke Bryan played nine holes in the group of another Broncos legend, John Elway, then tapped out in favor yet another Front Range broadcasting institution,

Now Vic and Elway have known each other for decades, and given each other grief for about as long. So No. 7 decided to up the ante a little bit, giving Lombardi a few strokes and putting $100 on the line for the guy who finished with the better back nine.

Lombardi birdied 16 with a great putt, inching so close he could almost smell the Hall-of-Famer’s money.

“He hit a bunker on 18 and he was about 180 (yards) away and I said, ‘OK, I’ve got a chance, there’s no way he’s going to get on the green,'” Lombardi said.

“This shot, he pulverized and hit perfectly, right over the pin. And I’m like, ‘There’s no way I can do that here. There’s no way I can do what he just did.'”

Vic bogeyed 17 and double-bogeyed 18, and that was that. Elway pulverized his way to par on the back nine; Lombardi wound up 4-over.

A dang proud 4-over, mind you.

“Oh, he gave me grief,” Lombardi laughed. “On every shot, he gave me grief.”

During the post-round media scrum, Vic snuck in over my left shoulder and handed Elway a crisp $100 bill. This one’s for John.

“It’s always easy,” Elway said, flashing that trademark Elway smile, “to take Vic’s money.”

•�Ģ�Ģ

Manning was money down the stretch, by the way. PFM made a heck of a birdie putt on 17, Stokley said.

“Just trying to be a good coach, I finally got him to calm down,” the caddie said.

Manning probably got the better end of the deal, truth be told. Stokley wound up hauling PFM’s bag on his back for 18 holes, roughly nine miles, up and down hills more suited for pack mules.

Castle Pines is 6,400 feet above sea level at hits highest point, with 400 feet of elevation change along the way. By the turn, you and your lungs aren’t on speaking terms anymore.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize what I was getting into,” Stokley said.

Nine miles? That’s love, my friend.

“It was extremely challenging,” Stokley recalled. “I wanted to do it. I’m flattered he asked me to do it. I had a blast doing it.”

If you thought Manning and Stoke were fun to watch at Empower Field, you should see them on the green. Brothers who’ve been giving each other crapola for two decades now, warriors refusing to cede, competitors to the last.

“We’ve had some epic battles,” Stokley said. “It always got to be by the third or fourth holes, we were arguing. We’d stop talking for about 15 more holes until the end of the match and at the end of the match, we’d always shake hands and say, ‘Congratulations,’ then go and have a cold drink and then it’s over.

“That’s what I love about him. You see it on the football field — it’s the same on a golf course. He’s never out of a hole. He’s going to find a way to make a 50-foot putt. He’s behind a tree, he’ll get up and down. That’s why I love competing against him.”

Naturally, Manning ended his day by sinking a sweet 12-foot putt. Another ball. Another autograph. Another smiling youngster, bouncing up those steep hills with a skip and a smile.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, right?” PFM quipped. “That’s all that matters.”

One of us. Same as it ever was.

It was the first day of minicamp for the Nuggets’ Summer League team. Munson has worked closely with Malone for almost nine years, first as a video intern and now as Denver’s special assistant to the head coach. But Summer League is a time for aspiring coaches to get reps, too — not just burgeoning players. The Nuggets have handed Munson the head coach’s whistle for the next couple of weeks.

So he used it.

“He showed me a little Coach Mo-esque timeout,” Julian Strawther said.

Translation: a really angry timeout.

“We had a loose ball, and nobody got on the floor,” Munson said, shrugging. “We didn’t fly around like we’re supposed to. … I’ve been watching (Malone) for nine years, so I’ve got a good idea of how to do it.”

He doesn’t anticipate needing to call more of those timeouts once the games begin Friday in Las Vegas, considering the surplus of young enthusiasm brandished by the Nuggets, from their 15-man roster to their two-way and Exhibit 10 contracts. Still, Munson did admit after the rage timeout: “It felt pretty good. I get it now. I get it.”

Results in Summer League are always somewhat trivial, but the upcoming games should be informative for an organization relying heavily on youth. This marks the first opportunity to see first-round draft pick DaRon Holmes II compete as a Nugget, along with two-way signings Trey Alexander and PJ Hall. It also represents a progress report for second-year players Strawther, Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson, at least one of whom has a strong chance to become an everyday rotation player next season.

Munson will be the Makeshift Malone running the show.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity from Coach Malone and Calvin (Booth), letting me do this,” he said. “… As an assistant coach, you have all these grand ideas in your head. ‘I want to do this,’ and ‘We’re gonna do that.’ All of that. So now I’m in the position of: ‘Well, that didn’t work very well,’ or ‘Maybe I need to rethink that.’ So it’s just exciting to try some ideas maybe I’ve had, see how they work.”

Player to watch: Julian Strawther

Strawther knows as well as anyone: The loss of a starter at his position, while painful for Denver to absorb, means “there’s a lot of opportunity for the taking.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s departure in free agency has mostly been dissected through the lens of how Christian Braun fits into the starting unit. But arguably just as important is the subsequent domino. Strawther is next in line to be the Nuggets’ second-string shooting guard. He was the most-used of Denver’s three rookies last season, and now he seems to be the most likely of the trio to enter the rotation on a regular basis.

Obviously, his shot needs to improve in 2024-25. The former Gonzaga sniper was only 29.7% from beyond the arc as a rookie. But he and the Nuggets have broader intentions for his development than just catching and shooting.

“He has the ability to put the ball on the floor. He attacks close-outs,” Malone said. “When we drafted him, we knew that he was a great midrange shooter. … But we want to expand his game. We feel that he’s a guy in today’s NBA that can play the one. You think about his past year. We had so many different guys try to fill that position of being a backup point guard. And we think Julian has all the tools, as he continues to work on that, not to be a full-time point guard, but to be a guy we can play second-side pick-and-roll with, be a secondary ball-handler. Because we do not have a lot of that.”

Strawther has stayed in Denver most of the offseason so far. He’s been a near-daily presence in the practice gym at Ball Arena, where the coaching staff’s emphasis has been on expansion as much as refinement.

“I think he’s a little more advanced (as a ball-handler) than you guys have seen,” Munson said. “In the regular season, he’s mostly off the ball. The guy’s really talented. He’s a talented shooter, but also a scorer, play-maker.”

Look for Strawther to explore and experiment with his skill set in Vegas. He’ll be the most imminently relevant player on the floor for Denver.

“It’s always a fine line in Summer League,” Munson said. “They’ve got a bigger opportunity (than usual). So they’re gonna have the ball and do more things. But you also want to take little pieces of, ‘Oh hey, Julian’s going to do that when he’s with Nikola (Jokic). Hunter’s going to make that cut when he’s with Nikola.’ Are they seeing those things? Are they making those plays?”

Other storylines

Jalen Pickett: The Nuggets are still seeking point guard depth in free agency, but Pickett also has an opportunity to earn increased playing time as he enters his second year. Munson plans to put him in a lot of pick-and-roll reps at Summer League. The Nuggets can also cultivate Pickett’s unorthodox game by getting him the ball at the elbows or in the post, where he can be a cunning distributor.

“We want to see him run this team,” Munson said. “I could call a play down every time if I want, but I’d like to see Jalen kind of take control. Get everyone organized. ‘Hey, Julian’s got 20. He’s made four 3s. Let’s run some action for him.’ Same thing for Hunter. Just be Jalen Pickett.”

College roomies: The Nuggets forfeited the 56th overall pick this year when they traded up six spots to draft Holmes. One of the players they were strongly considering at No. 56, according to a league source, was PJ Hall, who ended up in Denver anyway as an undrafted free agent. Hall led Clemson to the Elite Eight in March. Before that, and more pertinently, he and Hunter Tyson were college roommates. They should have chances to rekindle their on-court chemistry at Summer League. Could Hall become this year’s Collin Gillespie for the Nuggets, earning solid NBA minutes on a two-way contract? Or might that be Creighton’s Trey Alexander, who left a strong first impression on coaches at mini-camp?

Family affair: Denver brought in some familiar names to play Summer League ball this year. Parker Braun is the older brother of Christian, another Kansas basketball alum. And Walter Ellis of Grand Canyon University is the son of former Nuggets player LaPhonso Ellis.

Interestingly, none of the 14 players on the Summer League roster are listed as centers. It’s officially all guards and forwards for Denver, with Braun standing tallest at 6-foot-10.

Projected starting lineup: Jalen Pickett (PG), Julian Strawther (SG), Hunter Tyson (SF), PJ Hall (PF), DaRon Holmes II (C); sixth man Trey Alexander

Nuggets Summer League schedule (fifth game TBA)

July 12 (Friday): Nuggets vs. Clippers, 8 p.m. MT, Altitude TV

July 14 (Sunday): Nuggets vs. Raptors, 7:30 p.m. MT, Altitude TV

July 16 (Tuesday): Nuggets vs. Hornets, 4 p.m. MT, Altitude TV/ESPN 2

July 18 (Thursday): Nuggets vs. Pacers, 2:30 p.m. MT, Altitude TV/ESPN 2

Take -170 on it.

Odds are you know that Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter is being investigated by the NBA after questions surfaced following his early exits from games on Jan. 26 and March 20 because of an illness and eye injury, respectively. There were betting irregularities in each game, and Draft Kings reported massive losses on Porter prop bets for 3-pointers.

He has remained listed as “out for personal reasons” since the ESPN story broke. It intersects locally because his older brother Michael Porter Jr. stars for the Denver Nuggets. For the first time Wednesday night, Michael commented on the situation.

“I know what you guys know. I know Jontay loves the game of basketball. He’s been really excited to play with the Raptors,” Michael said. “I have known my brother my whole life. I know what type of dude he is. I know he’s excited to play basketball and highly doubt that he would do anything to put that in jeopardy.”

How could this happen? Let����ap go live to Ball Arena for the pregame sports lines brought you to by a national sportsbook.  On the first night Jontay sat out, Altitude TV ran a prop bet on Michael’s unders. This is our new normal. But should their be more safeguards in place?

I am not outraged by gambling. I don’t participate, but my podcast was sponsored by a sportsbook. Ads remind people to call 1-800-GAMBLER if they believe they have a problem or need confidential help. The NBA cannot be surprised by Jontay’s story, only that it did not happen sooner.

Gambling odds are sewn into the sports fabric, so part of the daily coverage and experience that Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon told The Denver Post on Wednesday he plans to invest in the gambling website Rebet. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement permits players to hold a passive stake in a gambling company, only forbidding them to promote NBA-specific gambling

“As long as I don’t bet on the NBA, I’m good,” Gordon said.

Is this good for our games?

Baseball is dealing with its own squirm-inducing controversy. The sport����ap best player, Shohei Ohtani, declared he was the victim of fraud last week, betrayed by his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who allegedly heisted $4.5 million from him to cover gambling debts with a bookie. Originally a spokesman for Ohtani said he knew about the wire transfer payments, then the statement was retracted and all blame pointed squarely at Mizuhara as a rogue employee. Consider me skeptical.

The Jontay Porter story makes me feel uneasy, because of something Michael said when I asked him about the omnipresence of gambling at games.

“You hear it more from the people in the crowd about what they need you to score tonight or what they don’t want you to score. Every night you are disappointing someone,” Michael Porter said. “You are disappointing the people if you score too much because they may have bet on the under, and you are disappointing people if you didn’t score enough. It����ap part of the game now. I think that it����ap obviously a dangerous habit, a dangerous vice for people. You know the love of money is the root of all evil so I think that even though it is a thing we as players just have to accept that.

“We get paid a lot of money to play this game and I know these fans they want to make some money as well. If they want to put their hard earnings on us, we appreciate that you put your trust in us I guess. It����ap definitely something that has kind of taken over the sports world. I don’t know if it is a good thing or bad thing.”

It is something that requires more attention and education. Broncos defensive end Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended indefinitely last July after the league determined he bet on NFL games in 2022, including those involving Denver. Coach Sean Payton called the NFL’s memo on gambling convoluted, and he and his staff tried to simplify it. Where did they land? Don’t bet on the NFL. And don’t bet on anything where you are not allowed to carry a gun, such as the team facility, hotel and airplane.

The professional leagues are not going to change their stance on gambling, not with the massive revenue involved.

But it����ap past time these leagues recognize the reach of their gambling partnerships and the effect on players. This has the potential to not only compromise games and end careers, but ruin lives.

Sports gambling’ gravitational pull requires a greater understanding and education by the leagues. They are trying to thread a needle, promoting gambling at every turn, while not recognizing the temptation pulling at players.

Many gamble for fun. Love it. Have no issues. This isn’t about that or you if that description fits. This is about pro sports, their players and what����ap next.

The Porter and Ohtani stories feel more like warnings than outliers. Gambling is everywhere. The NCAA has lobbied for the elimination of prop bets on college athletics. Pro sports leagues need to consider some guardrails as well until they get a better handle on the proliferation of betting among their athletes.

Those who participate are asked to do so responsibly. The leagues need to heed this same advice.

They cannot take the “nothing to see here” stance. Not now. Not ever again. What has happened the last few weeks feels like falling pebbles before a rock slide.

It����ap time the leagues see this as a potential crisis. If not, you can bet they will regret it.

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“We’re studying every possibility,” said Demoff, who was announced as KSE’s new president of team and media operations. “It’s possible that we could wind up doing a streaming product, and it’s possible we could wind up doing something over-the-air. It’s hopeful that we could try to find a deal with all the cable providers.”

Altitude, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network, settled a nearly four-year-old lawsuit with Comcast last March, but the two sides have remained at a contract impasse since then, keeping Nuggets and Avalanche games blacked out to subscribers in Colorado. Altitude filed the lawsuit against Comcast after its carriage deal lapsed in September 2019, accusing the cable giant of violating antitrust laws. Altitude is available in Colorado on DirecTV, Fubo TV and Charter.

Demoff is president of the Los Angeles Rams in addition to his new titles. He’s taking over responsibilities regarding Altitude after the recent resignation of Matt Hutchings, who oversaw the RSN as KSE’s chief operating officer and executive vice president.

“The first meeting after this press conference is on this exact topic,” Demoff said. “So I think that tells you exactly where we are.”

The ongoing contract dispute has coincided with widespread strife for regional sports networks and a revolution in live sports streaming. Other NBA franchises have pivoted away from RSNs. In the last year, the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz have established models that made games available via new streaming services as well as over-the-air local television.

“When you look around the landscape and you see what Phoenix has done, you see what Utah has done, you see a lot of these teams creating a streaming product or an over-the-air product. You wonder, why is it more difficult for us?” Demoff said Thursday. “And I think that’s the question to get to the bottom of. Now one true answer is: We own Altitude. It is our network. So it is far more complicated than watching an RSN that you had a contract with drop off.

“If you look at what’s happened with Sinclair or Diamond (Sports Group) or Bally or any of those contracts, a lot of them, it’s disappeared and people are going to try to figure out how you get on air. We are the RSN. We are Altitude.”

In Denver, the RSN that broadcast Colorado Rockies games (AT&T Sportsnet) ceased operations last year, forcing Major League Baseball to take over the team’s broadcasts for the upcoming 2024 season. Rockies games will be available to stream on Rockies.tv, but the franchise has yet to reveal a cable television option.

“There is no greater priority to this organization and for our fans than getting these games on the air,” Demoff said. “We have generational talents, championship teams. And not only is it for the fans now, but I look at the 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds who walk into this arena: They should be growing up rabid Nuggets, Avalanche (fans). … This should be the peak of their fandom. And so for us, it’s not just about who’s watching now. It’s about making sure we don’t lose that next generation of fans by not being on the air.

“For me personally, I worked very hard with some great people for my entire 30s to build these teams to places where the Avs hadn’t been in a while, and that the Nuggets had never been before. So every time I hear (local fans can’t watch games), it’s like a knife in the heart,” said Josh Kroenke, governor of the Avalanche and Nuggets. “When Kevin and I sat down to talk about this new role, and this new opportunity, the first and only thing we discussed was how to get Altitude back on the air for the majority of the Denver area. … To have his thoughts and to have a fresh take around this is going to be invaluable to me and to our consumers and our customers all around the Denver metro area.”

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