Peyton Watson is stuck between the Rocky Mountains and a hard place, valued too much by the Nuggets to give him away in trade but not enough for the team to show him the money.
During a pivotal summer for a championship contender in decline, when it now appears everything was on the table for the Nuggets except making a move that really mattered, the only real noise surrounding the team has been a dog-and-pony show staged by agent Rich Paul in the hope of landing Watson a $25 million salary.
It’s annoying.
From any perspective, this saga of where Peyton’s going to find his happy place has grown tiresome.
There’s a thumb-twiddling Denver front office, which was never a serious contender to acquire Jaylen Brown or LeBron James now stuck in luxury tax hell.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, left, and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic gesture during the second half of a game in Los Angeles, March 14. (The Associated Press)
Watson, who has shown solid signs of being the draft-and-develop player needed to extend Nikola Jokic’s championship window, is frustrated because he can’t get starter’s money.
And Nuggets Nation frets if the team doesn’t do something, Joker might get so sick and tired of it all that he could declare himself a free agent in 2027 and leave a mountainous mess behind him in Colorado.
After handing out massive contracts in the Denver locker room the way Oprah Winfrey used to give away cars to her TV studio audience, the Nuggets want to play hardball with Watson.
Sure, this suddenly frugal approach is because the Nuggets are the league’s lone team stuck in the extremely punitive second apron above the luxury tax line.
But whose fault is that?
In recent years, Nuggets management was so enamored with what it mistakenly believed was a championship core built to last that it overpaid Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and even Jamal Murray, a point guard who can shoot with the best of them, while his other skills for the job are B-level at best.
And now Watson must pay the price for those mistakes.
Yep, I’d be miffed too if I were in his shoes, or as ticked as a young man can be while spending his summer vacation hobnobbing in France or at the World Cup.
As a restricted free agent, with no predatory offer from a league rival on the horizon, Watson enjoys no leverage, unless he wants to pout and go the full-blown route of a malcontent who feels unappreciated. Not that it would help. During the more than quarter century I’ve watched Stan Kroenke do business, he generally reacts very poorly to a player, coach or executive trying to turn the screws on a billionaire to fork over more money.
There’s reported interest by the Clippers, Hawks, Bucks and Cavaliers in taking Watson off Denver’s bloated payroll in a sign-and-trade deal.Â
But the very nature of a trade designed to reduce Denver’s tax bill shouts salary dump.
Nuggets wing Peyton Watson heads for the basket while being defended by Kris Murray in the first quarter of a game against the Trail Blazers at Ball Arena on Sunday, March 22, 2026. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)
Under those adverse negotiating conditions, it’s unlikely the Nuggets can get full trade value for a 23-year-old wing who blossomed into a 14.6 points-per-game scorer over the course of 54 games in a breakout season ultimately broken by nagging hamstring issues.
I have long been fond of Watson.
The dare-me attitude he brings to the court is balanced by the realization of how lucky he is to get an advanced degree in hoops knowledge from Jokic. His length and quickness make him a defensive weapon, and as he has developed into one of the more effective Nuggets at creating his own shot, Watson presents a way to expand Denver’s offense beyond the two-man game of Joker and Murray.
On opening night of the season, Gordon and Jokic will both be 30 years old. Murray turns 30 in February. Watson can bring some sorely needed youthful spring to the Nuggets’ step in a race to stay apace with San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
As this uneasy stalemate with Watson drags on, the shouts from the cheap seats for Kroenke to pay the man seem all but certain to fall on deaf ears, because why would ownership fork over nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in tax penalties for a roster that’s likely no better than third best in the Western Conference?
Watson could bet on himself, accept a $6.5 million qualifying offer, return to the Nuggets and try to prove his true worth is 4x or 5x more on the open free agent market next summer.
But then coach David Adelman would be stuck preaching all-for-one team unity to a locker room as Watson has one eye on the exit door.
And that’s the mess that is going to convince Joker the Nuggets are one big happy family he should never leave?