KJ Simpson Returns for Nuggets–Jazz Preseason Game in Boulder

BOULDER – The road back to Boulder was always going to be emotional for KJ Simpson. Now it comes with an NBA logo on the floor.

The University of Colorado will host a preseason matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 5 p.m. at the CU Events Center, a rare NBA stop on college hardwood and a made-for-storylines return for one of the Buffaloes’ modern stars.

Simpson lit up this building from 2021 to 2024, twice earning All-Pac-12 honors and driving Colorado’s memorable surge through the 2024 NCAA Tournament. He left as one of the program’s defining guards of the decade. This time, he walks back in as an NBA player.

Originally taken in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, Simpson’s path has already taken a sharp turn. He joined the Nuggets on a two-way contract midway through the 2025-26 season and has quietly carved out a role. Across 56 NBA games, including 17 starts, he’s averaged 6.7 points, 2.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds per night – solid numbers for a young guard still staking his claim in a contender’s rotation.

Now he’ll do it in front of the crowd that watched him grow up as a player.

Nuggets Return to Boulder

This won’t be Denver’s first trip up US36 for preseason work, but it has been a long wait. The Nuggets last played a preseason game in Boulder in 2015, when they faced the Chicago Bulls on the Russell “Sox” Walseth Court. Before that, Colorado welcomed Denver for exhibitions against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2007 and 2014.

So this is the fourth time the Nuggets have brought NBA basketball to the CU Events Center. The setting is familiar. The stakes are not. For Simpson, this is a full-circle night.

The matchup with Utah also opens Denver’s five-game preseason slate, setting the tone for the weeks leading into the regular season. Once the final buzzer sounds in Boulder, the two teams won’t have to wait long for a rematch.

A Compact Preseason Gauntlet

The Nuggets head straight into a return meeting with the Jazz in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 6, as they tune up their core and test their depth. From there, the preseason shifts back to Denver.

Ball Arena hosts the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, Oct. 11, giving home fans their first in-building look at the group after the Boulder curtain-raiser. Then comes a quick swing through Los Angeles: the Clippers at Intuit Dome on Wednesday, Oct. 14, followed by the Lakers at Crypto Arena on Friday, Oct. 16, to close out the schedule.

For Denver, it’s a compact, purposeful run of games. For Boulder, it’s one night – and one player – that will stand out.

Tickets and a Date to Circle

Tickets for the Nuggets–Jazz preseason game at the CU Events Center go on sale to the general public on Thursday, Sept. 10.

For Colorado fans, that date matters almost as much as Oct. 4. The chance to see an NBA matchup in their own building is rare. The chance to watch KJ Simpson check in wearing a Nuggets uniform, on the same floor where he became a campus star, is the kind of moment that doesn’t come around often.