It’s over for this core of the Nuggets. At least, that’s how it looks. Nikola Jokic had a rough series against the Timberwolves, but it’s not like he’s going anywhere. The thing is, he needs more help. Jamal Murray had a brutal series after his best regular season, and Aaron Gordon was completely unreliable all year long and unavailable at the worst possible time.
Beyond the big three, nobody on the Nuggets lived up to their contract, and with a massive luxury tax bill looming and a shortage of draft capital, it’s hard to see a clear path to this version of the Nuggets getting back to the promised land.
But there is one potential saving grace on the roster. One guy who could conceivably scale up and rise to the level of player the Nuggets need to balance things out and bring a flair of energy, athleticism, defense, and playmaking that the team so desperately needs. And unfortunately, it’s the hardest guy on the team to retain: Peyton Watson.
Peyton Watson flashed star potential this season
Watson was the best story on the Nuggets this season, taking a major leap in his fourth season. Finally, given a steady role, he rose to the occasion and stepped up when guys were out of the lineup all year, scaling up and looking like a viable second or third option on offense for stretches of the season.
He’s still just 23 years old, and this was his first year with consistent minutes. He averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists this season in over 29 minutes per game. It’s not crazy to think that P-Wat could keep getting better, and become a borderline star, and the kind of guy who puts up 20, 5, and 5 on solid efficiency while playing strong defense as well.
The Nuggets missed Watson badly in the playoffs, as he was out with a hamstring injury. They looked completely overmatched with athleticism, physicality, and energy, all things P-Wat would have helped with.
He also could have taken away a lot of the playmaking burden from Jokic and Murray, who both looked exhausted at varying points of the series. Murray can’t be the only reliable perimeter creator, but he had no help in that regard by the end of the series.
Keeping Watson will require major maneuvering
But as you likely know by now, the path to keeping Watson won’t be an easy one to navigate. They’re already right up against the 2nd apron, and that’s with Watson set to be a restricted free agent and needing a new contract.
Other teams are definitely going to make a run at him, and while Denver can match, there’s no way they’re going deep into the second apron for a team that just lost in round one. That means other moves will have to take place.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Moves were coming either way after this playoff result, but now, they should be essential, with the goal of keeping Watson in mind. Otherwise, this team is stuck. They don’t have the assets to add a star via trade or free agency, and it may even take the Nuggets surrendering other capital just to get off of their contracts like Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, and Zeke Nnaji.
The only realistic way to land a star is keeping and elevating Watson. They need to find a way to move off of some of that other money and give it to P-Wat. He can become the young star who joins this core and keeps it humming into the future.
Otherwise, the Nuggets' only option will be to truly blow it up and trade away one of Murray or Gordon. That may end up being the move anyway at this point, but if there’s any hope of bringing this trio back and making another real run at it, Peyton Watson has to be a massive part of it.
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