{"id":541392,"date":"2026-01-16T21:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/541392\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:01:13","slug":"nuggets-notes-watson-jones-trade-market-booth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/541392\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets Notes: Watson, Jones, Trade Market, Booth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourth-year forward Peyton Watson<\/a> has generated \u201csignificant\u201d interest on the trade market ahead of his restricted free agency this summer, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype<\/a>. However, according to Scotto, the Nuggets have rebuffed those inquiries on Watson and hope to re-sign him to a new contract during the offseason.<\/p>\n

Watson has taken on a larger role this season due to a series of injuries affecting key Denver players and has responded admirably. Since entering the starting lineup on a full-time basis two months ago, the 23-year-old has averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 32.6 minutes per game with a shooting line of .523\/.434\/.741. He was named the NBA\u2019s Player of the Week<\/a> for the first time in his career on Monday.<\/p>\n

Re-signing him won\u2019t be simple, however. The Nuggets already have over $201MM in guaranteed money on their books for 2026\/27, including nearly $186MM for their top five highest-paid players (Nikola Jokic<\/a>, Jamal Murray<\/a>, Aaron Gordon<\/a>, Cameron Johnson<\/a>, and Christian Braun<\/a>). Given Watson\u2019s rising value, re-signing him could push Denver into second-apron territory if the team isn\u2019t able to shed salary elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Nuggets:<\/p>\n

Echoing reporting<\/a> from Marc Stein, Scotto cites league sources who say two-way standout Spencer Jones<\/a> will eventually be promoted from his two-way contract to the Nuggets\u2019 standard roster. Like Watson, Jones has made the most of an increased role due to Denver\u2019s injuries. The 24-year-old wing has averaged 8.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG on .503\/.381\/.622 shooting while playing solid defense in 25 games as a starter.
\nWhile it may not be an overly eventful trade deadline for the Nuggets, they\u2019re expected to monitor both the trade and buyout markets in case an opportunity to add a veteran point guard pops up, league sources tell Scotto. The team is currently operating slightly over the luxury tax line and will want to keep a roster spot for Jones\u2019 promotion, which could complicate those efforts to add backcourt help.
\nWhile former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth made his share of missteps during his time on the job, he was a \u201clegit\u201d talent evaluator, argues Troy Renck of The Denver Post<\/a> (subscription required). Renck contends that former head coach Michael Malone seemed intent on proving to Booth that young players like Watson, Jalen Pickett<\/a>, and Zeke Nnaji<\/a> weren\u2019t good enough, whereas head coach David Adelman has gotten the most out of them, especially since Jokic went down with a knee injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fourth-year forward Peyton Watson has generated \u201csignificant\u201d interest on the trade market ahead of his restricted free agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,4187,301,187,3943,1361,6,302,1146,26517,4714],"class_list":["post-541392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-calvin-booth","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-jalen-pickett","tag-nba","tag-nuggets","tag-peyton-watson","tag-spencer-jones","tag-zeke-nnaji"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115906798296582707","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}