The Denver Nuggets didn’t exactly soften the blow of losing Peyton Watson, and the timing around the Kroenkes made it look even rougher.
Less than two weeks after the Nuggets agreed to send Watson to the Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment made a massive purchase elsewhere in the family portfolio. According to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno agreed to sell his controlling interest to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for an MLB-record price.
Stan Kroenke is set to pay more than $3.9 billion, topping the previous MLB mark that belonged to the Padres. That kind of money makes the Cavaliers’ four-year, $88 million deal for Watson look small by comparison, even though that’s an enormous figure by any normal standard.
For the Kroenkes, though, that’s just another day in the empire. They already own the Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Rams, and Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League.
That’s why the Watson move landed so poorly for Nuggets fans. If ownership were already willing to spend heavily on the teams it controls, losing a talented young player because of luxury tax concerns would be easier to swallow. Instead, Denver let Watson go, and the reason was clear: money.
The sting gets sharper when you stack it against what the Nuggets would have been facing. Had they matched the kind of deal Cleveland gave Watson, their estimated tax bill would have been around $230 million. But that number doesn’t exactly feel huge next to a multibillion-dollar baseball purchase.
Denver’s caution also fits a familiar pattern. Even with Watson still a restricted free agent, which meant the Nuggets could have matched any offer sheet, it always felt like there was a real chance he’d end up elsewhere. That possibility grew after Denver matched Oklahoma City’s offer sheet for Spencer Jones, a move that triggered a $32 million jump in luxury taxes and pushed the team into the second apron.
And once a team is there, the restrictions get serious. The Nuggets can’t aggregate salaries in trades, among other limitations, so it made sense on paper not to push any further into that territory. Still, it’s hard to believe luxury-tax strategy was the only thing driving the decision.
If there’s one player who can justify a bigger spend, it’s Nikola Jokić. If the plan is to keep chasing another title with him, then paying Watson should have been part of the conversation. Instead, Denver got no player back in the move, and a few days later signed DeMar DeRozan to a veteran’s minimum, which barely moved the needle.
The bigger picture is pretty clear: the Kroenkes are still building their empire. But when ownership is spending billions to buy the Angels and then turns around and squeezes the Nuggets on a young player, it’s not a great look.
In Other News...
Peyton Watson Opened Up About A Brutal Michael Malone Lesson
Peyton Watsons time in Denver came with the kind of hard-edged coaching that can stick with a young player long after the practice ends. In a recent interview with Michael Porter Jr., Watson revisited a rookie-season moment when Michael Malone called him out in front of the team, a scene Watson said was embarrassing at the time but ended up becoming part of his early education in the NBA.
Watson, who was recently sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade deal from the Nuggets, said the lesson forced him to sharpen his attention to detail and deepen his understanding of the game plan. Porter Jr. echoed that sentiment as they looked back on Malones style, suggesting the Nuggets coachs blunt approach was difficult in the moment but also a big reason young players in Denver kept growing. [Read more 🡒]
LaVar Ball Just Gave Nuggets Fans A New Jokic Debate
LaVar Ball has managed to give Nuggets fans another reason to argue about Nikola Jokic, even if the debate starts from a place that feels pretty far removed from Denvers reality. On his show, Ball said Jokic would not be a fit in his preferred fast-paced system, arguing that the reigning centerpiece in Denver is not the kind of athletic big man he wants running the floor and finishing above the rim. He did acknowledge Jokics talent, but made it clear his idea of how basketball should look leaves little room for a player built like the Nuggets star.
For Denver, the more interesting part is how upside-down that critique sounds when measured against the way Jokic actually plays. His game is built less on sprinting for lobs than on rebounding, vision and passing that can turn a defensive stop into a quick strike before most teams are set. That contrast is why Balls comments land as more than just a hot take, because they reopen the same old question about whether the best offense is the one that looks fastest or the one that keeps finding Jokic in the middle of everything. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Fans Have Every Reason To Question Kroenkes Priorities Again
Kroenke Sports Entertainment is making a major baseball move, but it is doing so while the Nuggets and Avalanche still live with the kind of practice setup that has long worn out the patience of their fans. The company has shown it can flex when it wants to, and it has also shown a willingness to spend big on stars like Nikola Jokic and Cale Makar, which only sharpens the contrast when the conversation turns to everything around them.
For Nuggets supporters, the frustration is not just about payroll but about priorities and infrastructure, the sort of basics that help define whether a franchise is serious about competing at the highest level year after year. A new ownership chapter for another team in the Kroenke portfolio may not change Denver overnight, but it gives fans one more reason to wonder why the same urgency has not shown up where they care about it most. [Read more 🡒]