The Los Angeles Lakers have the luxury of a large market, the sunny SoCal weather, and the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown. They're also the hometown team of Peyton Watson, who grew up playing in Long Beach at Polytechnic High, the same school Snoop Dogg and Cameron Diaz graduated from. For the Nuggets, losers of four of their last five, the timing of the rumor couldn't have been at a worse time.
Watson, who will become a restricted free agent when the season ends, has been rumored to be eyeballing a return to LA. In a story about what's next for the Lakers and Luka Doncic, Kevin Pelton of ESPN had this small blurb about Watson:
"Restricted free agency is trickier for a team such as the Lakers that can't afford to wait out the matching period, but Denver Nuggets forward Peyton Watson-- an L.A.-area native who played at UCLA-- might be gettable via sign-and-trade because of Denver's tax situation."
P-Wat is in the midst of a breakout season, averaging career-highs across the board while making 39 starts and playing 30 minutes per game. Since Dec. 29th, when Nikola Jokic went down with a knee injury, Watson has been averaging 21.2 points per game.
All signs point to P-Wat wanting to explore his options and take a look at what a return to LA could mean. He'd instantly move into their starting rotation and be a major option off the ball for Luka, where his explosive hoop-attacking and three-point shooting would be fully weaponized, and he would likely be getting paid handsomely. That's going to make it difficult for the Nuggets to match. But not impossible.
Nuggets luxury tax problems aren't as bad as before
Thanks to a trade deadline deal that saw the Nuggets send Hunter Tyson to the Nets in a salary dump, the Nuggets are now under the luxury tax threshold and will avoid the associated penalties for the first time in years. Those penalties are progressive, and the longer you're over the line, the more you pay in fines. Now that the Nuggets are no longer a repeat offender, they have a little bit more wiggle room to match any offer P-Wat receives.
It's not exactly the news Nuggets fans want to hear right now. Denver has lost four of its last five games, their worst stretch this season. But at least the Nuggets are still in the driver's seat, as they have the option to match any offer. However, if P-Wat does leave for LA, there are others ready to take his place.