Less than two weeks after the Denver Nuggets agreed to send Peyton Watson to the Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade, the Kroenkes made an acquisition, just not the kind that fans were hoping for. Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno agreed to sell his controlling interest to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for an MLB-record price, as reported by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
What we do know right now is that Stan Kroenke agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion, which was previously the MLB-record price for the Padres. Take a minute to think about just how much money that is. It's a lot more than the four-year, $88 million contract the Cavaliers paid Watson, and even that's an unfathomable amount of money to the everyday person.
Not to the Kroenkes, though, who now own the Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Rams, and Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League.
Nuggets fans could look past the Kroenkes adding to their empire if they were already willing to spend money on the franchises they currently own, like Denver. They haven't, though; otherwise, they wouldn't have cheaped out and sent Watson to Cleveland, choosing to lose a talented young player because of luxury tax concerns.
Again, this is coming from ownership that just spent billions to acquire the Angels. So, no, not even their estimated $230 million tax bill that would've been coming their way had they given Watson the deal the Cavaliers did would compare to that.
Stan Kroenke agrees to buy controlling interest in Angels
The Kroenkes taking the cheap way out in terms of the Nuggets is nothing new, and that's why, even as a restricted free agent, meaning Denver could match any offer sheet Watson received, it felt like there was an increased possibility that he'd be on his way out.
That was even more true after Denver matched Oklahoma City's offer sheet for Spencer Jones, which triggered a $32 million increase in luxury taxes and pushed them into the second apron.
The second tax apron comes with harsh restrictions, like not being able to aggregate salaries across trades, so it makes sense the Nuggets didn't want to creep further into that territory. You can bet that wasn't at the forefront of the Kroenkes' minds when determining Watson's future, though, not like the luxury tax was.
If there is a player who can justify ownership spending more money, it's Nikola Jokić. If the goal is to win another title with him (and that seems to be the case), why wouldn't you want to pay Watson? You don't need the reminder that the Nuggets didn't receive a player in return, though a few days later, they signed DeMar DeRozan to a veteran's minimum. That only moved the needle a little bit.
The Kroenkes are focused on expanding their empire, as they have been, but if you have the money to spend (clearly, they do), it's not a good look to cheap out once again and then turn around and buy the Angels for somewhere in the $4 billion range.
Did you really expect anything different, though?
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