{"id":791572,"date":"2026-07-20T19:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/791572\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:45:17","slug":"is-peyton-watson-worth-25m-nuggets-offseason-comes-down-to-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/791572\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Peyton Watson worth $25M? Nuggets’ offseason comes down to this."},"content":{"rendered":"

Troy Renck: The Nuggets\u2019 offseason<\/a> feels like a documentary on Netflix<\/a>, and we all know it is not going to end well (spoiler alert, they don\u2019t get LeBron James)<\/a>. With Nikola Jokic on the roster,<\/a> championships remain the expectation. Yet, the Nuggets have done little to nothing to improve the team around him. It can be argued that the inactivity is aggressive because they are going for it with a veteran team. It can also be argued that this\u00a0 premise made a lot more sense in 2023 and 2024. The biggest move comes down to this: Is Peyton Watson worth $25 million or should the Nuggets sign and trade him?<\/p>\n

Sean Keeler: The Nuggets\u2019 summer so far could be described as \u201cA Series of Unfortunate Events,\u201d<\/a> my friend. Here\u2019s the thing: There\u2019s the open market<\/a>, what everybody else thinks your players are worth; and there\u2019s the Nuggets\u2019 internal \u201creward our dudes\u201d market. Steph Noh\u2019s salary projection pegs Watson\u2019s worth at $17.2 million per season<\/a> while the site BasketballValues.com<\/a> has that number between $14-18 million. The latter also notes, though, that it thinks P-Swat will actually get something along the lines of a four-year deal at $80 million to $100 million, or $20-25 million per season. Which would be in line with what his teammates are getting and should justifiably exceed that. If Cam Johnson (12.2 points per game, 43% 3-point shooting rate) is worth $23 million and Christian Braun (12.0 ppg, 30.1% on treys) is worth $21.55 million, respectively, then it\u2019s an easy argument from Watson\u2019s camp that their guy (14.6 ppg, 41.1% on treys) should make more, based on last season\u2019s production.<\/p>\n

\"PeytonPeyton Watson (8) of the Denver Nuggets works out during shoot around before game three of the best-of-seven series against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Renck: Watson is everything the Nuggets need: a bouncy, young player \u2014 just 23 \u2014 with defensive prowess and offensive upside. Once Watson showed he could create his own shot, he was worth it. The sample size is chillingly small, but when Nikola Jokic missed 16 games with a knee injury, Watson averaged 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 blocks<\/a>. He emerged as a big reason Denver posted a 10-6 record in Jokic\u2019s absence. It is uncomfortable to pay Watson $25 million per season \u2014 heck, it will likely take more \u2014 after Christian Braun<\/a> became injured and ineffective on the same salary last season. But it is not fair to hold Braun\u2019s performance against Watson. Braun might end up as a bench player because of his suspect shooting. Watson has a much higher ceiling after draining 41.1% of his 3-pointers a year ago.\n<\/p>\n

Keeler: The Kroenkes are playing the long game here, which is holding everything else up, and assuming everyone else is as scared of the second apron as they are. That makes sense and cents: Per SalarySwish.com<\/a>, only seven NBA franchises as of Monday were projected to be $20 million or more below the second apron line ($221.69 million) while also not being hard-capped by the first apron ($209.02 million). The Lu Dort trade to Atlanta only makes Watson\u2019s market for potential suitors smaller.<\/p>\n

Renck: Agent Rich Paul is using every angle to create interest in his client. But with Lu Dort going to the Hawks, it appears the Clippers and Bucks are the only teams left who can realistically give Watson a hefty offer sheet for between $25 to $30 million. The Nuggets appear ready to match or call Paul\u2019s bluff. I want Watson back, and would be willing to overspend. It also means trading Cam Johnson because there is no reason the Nuggets should become the only team to go into the second apron this season. Don\u2019t like going big for Watson? Here\u2019s what I don\u2019t like even less: executing a sign and trade for Watson for another vagabond player \u2014 the Nuggets have cornered the market on those this offseason \u2014 for draft picks to use when Jokic is in his mid 30s. I would rather risk whiffing on Watson than give Jokic a reason for leaving.<\/p>\n

Keeler: Aren\u2019t we\u2019re looking at this backward, though? In terms of potential and upside, of course you\u2019d be loco to try and move Watson now. But the reality is this: Of the new P-Swat, Cam and CB contracts, the Nuggets are only realistically keeping two of them so as to avoid that dreaded second salary-cap apron. If you want to make a \u201cwin-now\u201d statement to Jokic, you keep everybody, eat the money and keep on trucking. But that\u2019s not the KSE Way. So the premise becomes this: Which of those three could I leverage in a trade to get the most return back? Given Braun\u2019s shooting and Cam\u2019s ceiling, there\u2019s only one answer. And it\u2019s the awful, uncomfortable one.<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Troy Renck: The Nuggets\u2019 offseason feels like a documentary on Netflix, and we all know it is not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,1828,561,765,2102,301,187,3943,165,185,182,252,6,253,302,4097,179,1146,4098,8869,66,198,409,3788,8870],"class_list":["post-791572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-cam-johnson","tag-christian-braun","tag-colorado","tag-contract","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-latest-headlines","tag-lebron-james","tag-lu-dort","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-nuggets-takes","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-peyton-watson","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sean-keeler-versus","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-trade","tag-troy-renck","tag-troy-renck-versus"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116954026999657738","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791572","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=791572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}