The Denver Nuggets’ move to send Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers has drawn plenty of criticism, but the return may be getting overlooked for the right reasons.
Watson, 23, was supposed to be a key piece for Denver either way - either by sticking around on a new deal or by bringing back a real rotation player in a deal. Instead, the Nuggets took draft assets, which initially left plenty of fans underwhelmed. Still, the centerpiece of that return matters: Denver landed an unprotected 2031 first-round pick from Cleveland, plus a 2032 second-round pick that originally belonged to the Sacramento Kings.
That first-rounder is the part Denver seems to value most. Bennett Durando of The Denver Post reported that the Nuggets were especially high on the Cleveland pick, even though they did not get a player back in the trade.
“And the Nuggets hadn’t received a player back in the trade, controversially eroding their roster depth ahead of a pivotal 2026-27 season. After feeling out the market, they viewed Cleveland’s first-round pick as a more valuable asset than any player available to them, team sources told The Denver Post,” Durando reported.
“It’s intended as a trade piece to be cashed in well before 2031. Patience for the sake of future aggression.”
Durando also noted that Denver explored player options in a Watson deal. L.A. Clippers guard Kris Dunn and Milwaukee Bucks forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. were listed among the top targets, but the Nuggets’ financial limitations made taking back salary a difficult path.
“If Watson were to be traded, it was becoming increasingly clear that an entirely pick-based return was both the most feasible path forward and the Nuggets’ preferred outcome, rather than a player who would likely slot into the back end of their rotation,” Durando wrote.
That context helps explain why the Cleveland pick could carry so much weight for Denver. Before this trade, the Nuggets had no tradeable first-round picks, which made it tough to shed salary or make meaningful upgrades. Now they have more room to maneuver, and this deal gives them something they simply did not have before: a movable first-round asset.
Because the pick came from Cleveland, Denver can now use it in trades or work with its own 2031 first-rounder, something the team could not previously do because of the Stepien Rule.
As Durando put it, the Nuggets do not appear interested in waiting until 2031 to use the pick. They want flexibility now.
“In the end, [the Cavaliers] were also the only team to offer Denver an unprotected first-round pick - a coveted asset with high-lottery potential, if Cleveland’s championship window is closed five years from now,” the Nuggets insider wrote. “After feeling out the market, the Nuggets decided they preferred Johnson’s expiring salary, Spencer Jones’ cheaper extension, and an unprotected first-rounder rather than what they would have had to sacrifice for a long-term relationship with Watson.”
Denver also followed the Watson deal by signing veteran wing DeMar DeRozan. That does not fully replace what Watson brought, but it does soften the blow and gives the Nuggets more options going forward.
No, DeRozan and a future first-round pick do not completely erase the loss of Watson. But for Denver, the draft capital and added flexibility may end up being the most important part of the whole exchange.
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Nuggets Had Eyes On A Peyton Watson Trade Piece They Couldnt Get
The Nuggets spent part of the offseason with one eye on Peyton Watson and another on the kind of young wing talent that could have made a deal worth exploring. Milwaukee was among the teams showing interest in Watson, and preliminary conversations even drifted into the possibility of Jaime Jaquez Jr. being part of the framework, a player Denver had reason to view as an appealing piece if the talks ever moved past the exploratory stage.
But those discussions never got to the point where Denver had an actual offer to weigh, and that left the Nuggets waiting on a scenario that never quite materialized. Milwaukee ultimately kept Jaquez out of trade talks, leaving Watson in Denver and the Bucks to move on without testing how far the market might have gone. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Face A Familiar Roster Dilemma With Real Depth Implications
Denver already has 14 of its 15 roster spots spoken for, which is enough to meet the NBAs minimum, and that leaves the Nuggets once again weighing whether to keep a slot open as the season approaches. With salary-cap pressure and the luxury tax looming over the roster, the front office has reason to be patient, especially if a cleaner path to filling out the bench only emerges later through salary-dump moves.
It is a familiar sort of roster math for a team trying to stay competitive without digging itself deeper financially. The Nuggets went through a similar setup last season, waiting until after the trade deadline to finish the job, and the way they handle this final spot could shape not just the opening-night group but also how much flexibility they preserve for the rest of the year. [Read more 🡒]
Jokic May Already Hold Denvers Answer To Its Spacing Debate
Nikola Jokic has long been the Nuggets fix for almost any offensive problem, and the spacing conversation around him is no different. During the 2025-26 season, he quietly turned one of the leagues least glamorous shots into a weapon, while assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic has said Jokic spends daily time on floaters and runners as part of his routine. For a team always balancing how to maximize Jokics playmaking against the need to keep the floor open, that kind of touch from the middle of the lane matters.
The fit gets even more interesting with DeMar DeRozan in the mix, because another elite mid-range scorer can ease some of the burden on Jokic and create a different kind of pressure on defenses. The bigger question for Denver is how much of that soft-touch game should become a larger part of Jokics own diet next season, especially after his shot from deep lost some of its usual bite late in the year. If the Nuggets are looking for an answer to their spacing debate, it may already be sitting in plain sight around the paint. [Read more 🡒]