Peyton Watson is the unlikely breakout the Nuggets absolutely saw coming

As David Adelman put it, "Tonight was Peyton's night." The 23-year-old started for the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday in New Orleans, and by the time he final buzzer sounded, he had racked up a career-high 32 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and one steal in 34 minutes for his first career double-double.

Watson is at the beginning of his fourth season in the league, but there's more on the line for him this season. The Nuggets didn't sign him to an extension before the October deadline, so he's set to become a restricted free agent next summer. Watson recently joined Klutch Sports, preparing for what's to come.

It's not that Denver didn't want to pay Watson, as it's more complicated than that. Ben Tenzer said at media day that he hoped Watson and Christian Braun would be around for "a long time." The Nuggets didn't want to reach the second luxury tax apron, so they extended Braun, who was coming off a breakout season, but not Watson.

You know what else Tenzer said? That Watson and Braun would both play "huge roles" this season, so while the front office may not have guessed that the former would drop 32 in New Orleans on a Wednesday night in November, it was the version of Watson that the Nuggets have wanted to see.

The Nuggets want Peyton Watson to be more assertive

After the game, Watson told Altitude's Vic Lombardi, "This coaching staff and my teammates have been so empowering of me to go out there and be myself. We all knew it was a matter of time before I go out there and the production follows. I'm just glad to have the opportunity to play on this team and help us pull out a win."

Watson shot 13-of-19 from the field (68.4%) and knocked down a career-high five three-pointers on nine attempts (55.6%). He entered the game with 19 three-point attempts on the season, so he nearly attempted half as many threes in one game as he had in his previous 13 games. Watson worked on his shooting over the summer, and while he won't take nine threes every game, much less hit half of them, it was the kind of aggressiveness from three that the Nuggets need from him.

He also scored in transition (shocker), and his teammates found him off cuts, like this behind-the-back pass from none other than Nikola Jokić.

Denver brought in several new faces this summer, including a familiar face in Bruce Brown, but the Nuggets also focused on internal player development. Players talked about how hard Watson worked over the offseason and how different he looked in training camp. Fans saw the result of that in the win over the Pelicans.

It was Peyton Watson time.