Broncos safety Justin Simmons grew up in South Florida.
So, too, did cornerback Pat Surtain II.
Both had Nuggets hats on while chatting with reporters after Thursday’s OTA session, a few hours before the local hoops team tipped off its first-ever NBA Finals game against the Miami Heat.
“A good amount of my family is Heat fans, but I grew up a Kobe fan so I naturally just cheered for the Lakers for most of my life,” Simmons said. “I think it would be pretty cool to see the Nuggets win the Finals, so that’s who I’m going for.”
Surtain hesitated when asked if he was a Heat fan and played the “I’m looking for a good series,” card, but he also said he’s been in his Florida friends’ ears about Nikola Jokic and company.
“I told ’em I like the Nuggets, so they already know what’s going on,” he said.
Coach Sean Payton took in a Denver win against Phoenix earlier in the playoffs and said he had a conversation last week with former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski about how the Nuggets and Heat matched up in the title bout.
“He mentioned culture with both teams,” Payton said. “I think you see that with our team and I think you see it from the Heat as well. It’s why they’re the last two teams remaining. But from a beginner’s perspective, when you watch them, you feel that and that’s impressive. …
“When I’ve watched them, we all get caught up and we get excited, but your star players are unselfish and I feel like it’s a team that enjoys each other. I’m going to guess they probably do things together off the court and I don’t know that that’s the case with every team.”
Payton said he’ll be in attendance with a group of friends — former Eastern Illinois quarterbacks — that get together each year and that he’s planning to “convert them to Nuggets fans.”
The first-year Broncos coach also made note of the run that the Nuggets ownership group is on. The Kroenkes, of course, won a Super Bowl with the Rams in February 2022, a Stanley Cup title with the Avalanche four months later and now have the Nuggets four wins away from their first title.
“Man, good to be a Kroenke for the past two years, right? That’s pretty impressive to have that type of success,” Payton said.
A little familial competition, then, considering the Kroenkes and the Broncos’ Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group are bonded by marriage.
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