asking price has been prohibitive by design<\/a> \u2014 both because Watson\u2019s upside and Denver\u2019s limited avenues to improving the roster short or long term. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported last week that Denver is seeking compensation \u201con par with what Utah received from the Lakers in their recent sign-and-trade swap that made Walker Kessler a Laker.\u201d That return was two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round swaps \u2014 a monster haul the Lakers paid for a 7-foot-2 center on a four-year, $130 million deal.<\/p>\nFischer also reported that the asking price has been \u201ctoo steep for the Clippers to deeply consider,\u201d pushing LA toward re-signing its own restricted free agent, Bennedict Mathurin. The Clippers\u2019 pursuit is further complicated by the ongoing Kawhi Leonard trade situation with Toronto.<\/p>\n
The Hawks\u2019 \u201cfresh interest,\u201d reported by Fischer last week, faces its own math problems \u2014 Atlanta would need to send salary back, and the players they\u2019d have to include aren\u2019t ones Denver wants.<\/p>\n
Now Milwaukee enters the conversation. But the Bucks just traded their franchise player and are rebuilding around Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel\u2019el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis and a pair of rookies. They don\u2019t control their own first-round picks in the coming drafts after the Antetokounmpo deal shipped multiple firsts to Miami. So what are they sending Denver? The trade exception solves the salary-matching problem but it doesn\u2019t solve the compensation problem. Denver isn\u2019t dumping Watson for nothing, and the Bucks aren\u2019t exactly flush with draft picks.<\/p>\n
This is a second new suitor to surface in the span of a week \u2014 the Hawks, now Milwaukee \u2014 and none of them have been able to meet Denver\u2019s price. At some point, the question shifts from \u201cwho wants Watson?\u201d to \u201cis anyone actually going to do this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson is represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, and this has a familiar Klutch feel to it. Jonathan Kuminga\u2019s restricted free agency dragged through much of last summer. Josh Giddey\u2019s lingered. The strategy is patience \u2014 keep the market alive, keep names circulating, keep the incumbent team from getting too comfortable with the price dropping. Every new reported suitor, whether the interest is genuine or performative, serves that purpose.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets, for their part, have said they will match any offer sheet Watson receives. The Athletic reported last week that Denver is open to sign-and-trade scenarios but plans to match regardless.<\/p>\n
What a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee would actually accomplish for Denver is worth examining, though. The Nuggets would shed Watson\u2019s incoming salary \u2014 likely in the $22 million to $25 million range annually \u2014 which would provide tax relief. ESPN\u2019s Bobby Marks projected the Nuggets\u2019 tax bill could approach $200 million if they keep Watson and remain a repeat-tax team. Using the Bucks\u2019 trade exception, Denver could move Watson without taking salary back, getting under the second apron and maybe even approaching the first apron line depending on other moves.<\/p>\n
But getting under the tax for appearance\u2019s sake isn\u2019t a roster-building strategy. Flexibility sounds great until you realize there isn\u2019t much flexibility to be had in this NBA. The Nuggets lack the draft assets to make a significant trade. They don\u2019t have freed up funds even without Watson. The teams that do have room are spending it on other players. Shedding Watson to save Kroenke Sports and Entertainment money doesn\u2019t put a better player in his spot \u2014 it just makes the roster worse and the tax bill lighter.<\/p>\n
An anonymous Western Conference scout told ESPN earlier this offseason what everyone around the league already assumed: \u201cThey could easily just pay him and pay the tax, but we know how the Kroenkes operate. That means sending out either (Cameron) Johnson or Braun, and I don\u2019t know where that lands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson has also been linked to Milwaukee as a potential trade target by at least one writer, which adds another layer. If the Bucks are interested in both Watson and Johnson, the Nuggets could theoretically move one or both to Milwaukee in some combination \u2014 but again, only if the return justifies it.<\/p>\n
Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 54 games last season, shooting 49.1% from the field and 41.1% from 3. He\u2019s 23, fits the most coveted archetype in the modern NBA as a 6-foot-8 two-way wing, and is likely the last realistic shot the Nuggets have at developing a star alongside Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n
Sending him to a rebuilding Milwaukee team for tax savings and a light draft return would be a hard sell to a fan base that already watched Michael Porter Jr. get shipped to Brooklyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add Milwaukee to the list. The Bucks have joined the LA Clippers and Atlanta Hawks as teams interested…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-762094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}