In the end, the Denver Nuggets chose to roll into 2026-27 with Cameron Johnson and Spencer Jones over Peyton Watson. The Nuggets took the solid two-for-one as their better option, deciding to let the Cleveland Cavaliers pay Watson an amount that the Nuggets apparently were not comfortable with. It's probably going to be the right decision, at least for this year, for the Nuggets. But they had other options on the board.
According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst, the Nuggets had offers for Johnson, but ultimately decided to trade Watson.
"From what I am told, the Nuggets had options to trade Cam Johnson and get him off their books. There were teams that were willing to do that where it wouldn't have been penal to them," Windhorst said.
Johnson was viewed as the more likely trade candidate to keep Watson around, but Windhorst made it seem like it was more of a Spencer Jones and Cam duo versus just Watson solo. Why is this the right call for 2026-27? The Nuggets needed the depth.
The Nuggets are better off with the depth of two vs one
The Nuggets are losing perhaps their best perimeter defender in Watson, a desperate need for the Nuggets. But there was no depth behind the starting five. The Nuggets were better off choosing two vs one this time. The second unit is already depleted enough, and without Jones, it would be really rough.
Jones isn't the player that Watson is, but he's developing, and he works hard, and he's a better shooter than he gets credit for. Plus, if he flops, at $6 million per year for two years, the Nuggets aren't out much.
And it's almost as if the Nuggets learned their lessons with Zeke Nnaji and Christian Braun's bad contracts and weren't going to overleverage themselves this summer. That's a "no-brainer match" of the Oklahoma City Thunder's offer sheet for Jones, according to one unnamed Nuggets front office executive. Most fans would tend to agree.
Watson's departure opened the door for DeMar DeRozan
If you really want to look at it in a positive light, the Nuggets also brought in DeMar DeRozan, the six-time All-Star who's chasing a ring. So it's kind of a Watson for Johnson, Jones, DeRozan thing. Which works out really well for the Nuggets. DeRozan's offensive firepower is proven, and even at 37-years-old, he can still score buckets. He scored 18.4 last year in 77 games over 31.2 minutes for the Sacramento Kings. He's got plenty of juice left in the tank.
The Nuggets developed Watson, but they truly don't know what they had with all of the time he missed, including in the postseason when he sat out the entire first round of the playoffs. At the end of the day, the Nuggets went with the more proven route and set themselves up for the most success they could have in 2026-27 by taking the Jones/Johnson/DeRozan choice. It was the right choice. The depth depended on it.
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