Obviously, the best path forward for the Nuggets would be keeping Peyton Watson in Denver, but that seems increasingly unlikely by the day. We know that the Nuggets don’t want to pay the luxury tax, so any path to re-signing Watson is going to require some major cost-cutting moves, like getting rid of Cam Johnson or Christian Braun at a bare minimum.
They’d have to largely gut their depth, maybe even split up their core, and possibly sacrifice more future assets just to possibly get in a bidding war for Watson. The Nuggets can match any deal, but they surely have a budget in mind and don’t want to get forced into overpaying. Realistically, there are a lot of ways that this P-Wat pursuit could go horribly wrong, and as rough as it would be to lose him, a lot of past moves have given them little choice.
Nuggets can't afford to lose Watson for nothing
Where they do have some choice is when it comes to how they lose him, and perhaps that’s why they should get out in front of this problem and start thinking about a sign-and-trade deal with Watson. In this way, the team could retain some level of control and have a real chance to get back some players and assets that could soften the blow.
The worst possible scenario would be losing Watson for nothing, and that would be doubly bad if the team had made corresponding moves with an eye on keeping him. They must avoid that situation at all costs, and unless they are prepared to match any deal that gets thrown at P-Wat (I seriously doubt it), they should be receptive to a sign-and-trade.
This could be mutually beneficial for Watson as it gives him a chance to open up his market to almost any team in the league, instead of the few with cap space. He can negotiate a larger deal and gain much more control in his destination, and even for the few teams with cap space, this route could save them some flexibility.
Since Watson is a restricted free agent, teams aren’t going to break the bank to acquire him, especially teams that could just sign him with their cap space, but the Nuggets still hold the trump card with their rights to match any deal.
Sign-and-trade could be best option for Watson and Nuggets
There’s a real chance they could take back some solid role players or prospects plus some draft capital from a team that’s high enough on Watson and views him as a potential building block going forward.
The Bulls, Nets, and Lakers have already been floated as options, with teams like the Hawks and others making some sense as dark horse candidates, and they could each make very appealing offers to Denver revolving around picks and players.Â
Just being honest with ourselves, the Nuggets aren’t going to get anyone as good as Watson back, but that’s the position they’ve put themselves in through past mistakes. They shouldn’t chase past bad decisions with new ones. As painful as it may be, the best move may be to cut their losses and recoup some assets before it’s too late.
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