Nuggets restricted free agent Peyton Watson remains in a familiar holding pattern, and the latest read on his market still points to the same neighborhood. Speaking on DNVR Sports’ Nuggets podcast, NBA insider Marc Stein said he continues to hear Denver’s offers are landing in the $16-18MM per year range.
Stein said last week that the Nuggets’ top offer to Watson at that stage of free agency was around $70MM over four seasons, a figure that works out to $17.5MM annually. He reiterated that same ballpark while laying out the challenge facing a restricted free agent trying to squeeze more out of the market.
“I’ve consistently heard the offers are in the $16-to-$18MM range, in terms of annual average value,” Stein said. “You can understand if you’re in Peyton Watson’s shoes, you wouldn’t want that.
You would want more. But the uncomfortable reality of restricted free agency is it’s incumbent on the restricted free agent to go out and generate more.
You guys see the same marketplace I do - how is he going to do that?”
While Watson waits for his situation to resolve, he’s been working on his body this offseason. He recently posted on Instagram that he’s up to 220 pounds, after being listed at 200 pounds last season.
There’s also a little more clarity on how another Nuggets forward approached his own free agency. Harrison Wind of The Denver Gazette relayed via Twitter that Spencer Jones discussed the process in a LinkedIn post, saying he weighed the possibility of expansion in two years and a new CBA in three years when deciding how many seasons to sign for.
Out in Portland, Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron took a fresh look at the Trail Blazers’ acquisition of Ja Morant and what it could mean going forward. Gozlan pointed out that the Blazers bought low on Morant, but he also flagged the downside: Morant didn’t play especially well when available last season, and he now joins a crowded backcourt that new head coach Micah Nori will need to sort through.
And in Minnesota, the Timberwolves became the first team beyond Brooklyn and New York to formally lock in a deal with DAZN for game streaming in 2026/27. Dane Moore and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic examined what that means for fans in Minnesota, who will no longer be able to watch Wolves games through traditional cable or satellite TV packages.
In Other News...
Nuggets Look Smarter Than Ever For Letting KCP Walk
When the Nuggets let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency two years ago, it felt like a sharp departure from a player who had brought steadiness and championship-level reliability to Denver. Instead of matching the offer that sent him to Orlando, the Nuggets made a choice that was as much about roster balance and long-term flexibility as it was about the player himself, and at the time it was easy to see why that decision invited second-guessing.
Now, with Caldwell-Pope having seen his performance dip, then getting dealt to Memphis, bought out and eventually landing with Philadelphia, Denvers front office looks a lot smarter in hindsight. The broader lesson for the Nuggets is not just that they avoided a contract that no longer looks especially clean, but that they preserved the financial room to keep building around their core rather than tying themselves to a move that was already starting to age badly. [Read more 🡒]
Jokic Just Put Denvers Championship Window Under A Bigger Spotlight
Nikola Jokic has again left the Nuggets in the same familiar position this offseason, opting not to sign a supermax extension as Denver tries to keep its title core intact. It is the second straight summer he has passed on that move, and around the league the decision is being read less as a warning flare than as a financial calculation tied to where the next great payday sits.
For Denver, the timing only sharpens the spotlight on its championship window, because every contract decision now gets measured against the bigger question of how long this group can stay together under the cap. Rival teams are watching closely, knowing Jokic could simply wait another year before taking the next step, and that possibility alone has made the Nuggets a more talked-about franchise than usual when it comes to future roster planning. [Read more 🡒]