Nuggets losing Peyton Watson sets up as potential story of Denver’s offseason originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Denver Nuggets had to have been thrilled to see Peyton Watson’s growth this season.
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The timing of it, though, wasn’t necessarily ideal.
Watson was in the final year of his rookie deal and is now set to become a restricted free agent. And instead of being affordable, he’s going to be quite expensive.
Since Watson is an RFA, the Nuggets can extend him a qualifying offer, and then they have the right of first refusal. They can match any offer sheet given to Watson by another team.
Watson certainly could command a huge offer elsewhere, and the Nuggets would have to wade deep into the prohibitive salary cap second apron to keep him.
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Maybe they deem that it’s worth it, but maybe not. This current core doesn’t seem good enough to win a championship. Going into the second apron just to keep the whole band together might be the wrong move in the long run for Denver.
Watson created this problem with a breakout season in which he averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals per game.
He even shot 41.1% from 3-point range, making himself into an immensely well-rounded player. In a perfect world, the Nuggets would be able to keep him with no issues. But the money starts to get tough.
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Denver’s only hope is the way last season’s restricted free agency played out with the likes of Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga and Quentin Grimes. The rest of the league simply didn’t seem that interested in making offers, so the original teams didn’t have to match anything but rather just come to their own agreements with their guys.
Watson, though, seems to have reached a level of growth where he will indeed find a large offer sheet somewhere. If that moment arrives, Denver will be at major risk of losing him.
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