The Denver Nuggets are well above the NBA's luxury tax threshold, and if they re-sign Peyton Watson, they'll push far past the second-apron threshold, where extra tax penalties and roster limitations await. The situation has prompted grumblings of trade rumors for Nuggets wings Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson. But the Nuggets can't let the tax issue force them into a decision they need to get right. They need to keep all of their wings.
Let's say the Nuggets were truly closer than we all thought, and it was truly the injury bug that never allowed them to become whole or heal that held them back. They did defeat the San Antonio Spurs with Victor Wembanyama in a thrilling regular-season game and they won the season series 3-1 over the now Western Conference Champions.
We know they match up terribly against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who've sent the Nuggets packing in the playoffs two out of the past three years. But the Nuggets also played the Thunder tough this year, suffering an overtime loss and a three-point defeat in Oklahoma City. Against the teams that count, the Nuggets fared well.
The Nuggets need to keep every wing and pay the penalties
The dilemma stems from Watson's impending free agency this summer. The Nuggets extended Braun last year instead of Watson, which is part of why the Nuggets are in the salary mess they're in. They could have had Watson for much cheaper than he will cost the Nuggets now.
But that's not the reality. For the benefit of the doubt, let's say it was a matchup and injury problem that sent the Nuggets on an early vacation. Then run it back, starting with Watson.
Watson solves some of the problems the Nuggets had on the perimeter, and re-signing Spencer Jones to a minimum-salary contract would help the Nuggets against bigger wings and smaller post players on switches. Jones showed his 3-and-D capabilities against the Timberwolves, along with Johnson, who was the only player the Nuggets had that could slash to the rim for buckets in the paint.
Braun may have been playing hurt against the Timberwolves, which we didn't find out about until after the series. We don't know how much that slowed him down, along with the injuries in the regular season, but at 25, there's still hope this season was an outlier in Braun's development, and that he can regain form next year.
They're all probably better options than the Nuggets would find in free agency, meaning a trade is the only other way the Nuggets could upgrade. They may not need to upgrade. They may have just been missing Watson too much.
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