There were many people who were questioning the Denver Nuggets' trade of Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Nuggets were giving up a young, potentially really good player. Potentially. But if the first six games Watson has played for the Cavs are any indication of how things will go this year, the Nuggets avoided some real headaches.
In fact, Bleacher Report even called Watson the Cavs' "biggest problem," to start the year. And the reason why is most likely the same reason the Nuggets were reluctant to hand him a large contract extension in the first place. His offense. But that's not even the whole of it. Watson just hasn't fit with the Cavs when he's been on the court.
Watson has been terrible to start the year
Watson's offense has been dreadful. He's shooting just 37.1% from the field, and his three-point shooting has been atrocious, at just 16.7%. And on top of it, he's already missed two games with a right hamstring injury, the same one that kept him out of the first round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves last year. Sure, it's still early, and Watson has plenty of time to improve on the offensive numbers.
But beyond that, Watson hasn't meshed with the stars on the Cavs. The Cavs are 16.8 points better with Watson OFF the court per 100 possessions, according to Databallr. That's a huge difference. Watson is having to fit in with James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. He's potentially the fifth option, and he's struggling. Mightily.
Watson could have struggled in Denver, too
One has to wonder if Watson would have had an issue fitting in with the Nuggets in a more prominent role, too.
One of the arguments against matching the four-year, $88 million contract the Cavs gave him was that he was asking for a large contract based on a couple of weeks of exceptional offensive play. The Nuggets were without Nikola Jokic, Cameron Johnson, and Christian Braun, plus a few games missed by Aaron Gordon, as well, when Watson exploded offensively. Watson had to fill in and pick up the slack. And he did. But injuries kept him out when the starters returned, and we never got to see what he could do with them while healthy after his breakout.
But the Nuggets would have had to trade Johnson to keep Watson. However, you can see that Johnson is gung-ho about playing his role as the three-point specialist. He's shooting 40% from downtown after shooting 43.0% last year. Thankfully, the Nuggets picked up a 2031 unprotected first-round pick that could turn into a gem, and kept the better spacer in the Jokic-led offense in Johnson. The Nuggets have no reason to second-guess the trade.
It worked out for the better for the Nuggets. They've got a rookie in Trevon Brazile for a small fraction of the price. Brazile's been one of the best defenders in the league to start the year, and he's meshed extremely well. The Nuggets are +17.1 net per 100 possessions with Brazile on the court.
The Nuggets did the right thing in trading Watson, and so far, they've avoided the headaches some feared could happen by bringing him back on a large contract.
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