The Lakers, Bulls, and Nets are viewed as potential suitors who will have the spending flexibility to make a competitive play for Nuggets restricted free agent Peyton Watson this offseason, league sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
While Fischer’s reporting makes it sound as if Brooklyn may be included in that group is a result of informed speculation rather than confirmed interest, he says the Lakers and Bulls both expressed trade interest in Watson prior to February’s deadline.
All three teams could have have significant cap room available this summer, and Watson figures to be a popular target after enjoying a breakout season in which he averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 29.6 minutes per game on .491/.411/.730 shooting.
It’s safe to assume the Lakers will be in the market for an impact two-way wing this offseason, and the Nets are expected to try to be more competitive after losing 62 games in 2025/26, since they don’t control their own first-round pick in 2027. The Bulls’ intentions are less clear, especially since they’re currently in the midst of overhauling their front office, but no club has more projected cap space than Chicago.
Conversely, the Nuggets already have more than $203MM in guaranteed money on their 2026/27 books for just eight players, so re-signing Watson to a market-value contract would likely push their team salary well into second-apron territory unless they cut costs elsewhere.
Still, Watson won’t be unrestricted, and it has become increasingly rare in recent years for top restricted free agents to sign offer sheets or change teams. The Nuggets should have the upper hand in negotiations, with no cap rules preventing them from matching any offer from a rival team as long as they’re willing to pay the associated tax penalties.
Although the hamstring issues that have limited Watson to just five total appearances since February 4 shouldn’t have a real impact on his value in free agency, they’ve certainly been discouraging for the Nuggets, who could use the 23-year-old in their rotation as they attempt to complete a comeback from down 3-1 in the first round vs. Minnesota. Denver hasn’t offered any formal updates on Watson’s status for the rest of the series, but Fischer hears from sources that he has always been considered likely to miss the entire first round.
Watson had a good year but we are not in the position to hand out $90M deals to guys with one breakout season. That’s financially irresponsible and something that AK would have done. Need to build thru this draft and also actually trade guys at their highest value rather than keeping them to meet the quota.
Im going to respectfully disagree here Raz
4/90 would be a steal here (especially if you started it high to low)
New tanking system will probably make it even tougher to obtain draft capital for bad contracts (few left anyway) . This free agency is bad bad so IF you can bulk the cap into + assets like PW I think you gotta take that shot
No worries that’s why we can have a civilized convo lol. I agree the new tanking system will make it more difficult to obtain higher picks, but you still need the guys you have to progress as well, otherwise it’s a lost cause. As for Free agency, yeah this free agency is god awful and that’s why I rather have them not spend $90M on a guy who likely would get $45M next year with a deeper and more star studded cast. It all depends on who they hire and what their vision is for the draft. Less than two weeks to find out where we will be picking anyways. May 10th is circled on my calendar lol.
Nobody will take Patrick bum Williams unless the bulls attach picks to get rid of him, and I agree with Raz, the bulls need to be patient and build carefully through the draft instead of rushing things along
I think PW means Peyton Watson in this case. I agree Williams would cost the Bulls draft capital to dump.
Yes PW was Watson, probably should have specified that better
Correct Al S Watson would cost more than 4/90
Let’s see, the Bulls can give this guy 90 million, Or keep Leonard Miller and pay him 3 million to do the exact same thing? Hmmmm Judges? Watson’s agent leaked this right? About the teams with money.
Leonard Miller needs to get 25-30 next year MPG I mean. I’ve seen enough of him to see that time of PT.
Agree. The Bulls already have Miller and Okoro who do what Watson does. That’s already 1 too many and Okoro should probably be moved for something they actually need like Rebounding. Maybe the Bulls were interested in this guy when they were having their fire sale at the deadline because they were looking for anything with a pulse. But with 65 million, 4 draft picks and a new FO, They need him now like Herpes. Watson wants somebody to pay him and Denver probably won’t. He needs the Bulls, Not the other way around.
LMAO the herpes comment killed me.
I like him but not at $90M when we already have a guy who hates basketball on the roster for another 2-3 more years.
Hopefully we can hire somebody who can fix the ” Guy who hates basketball” Situation too. Even if they take back a bad contract of somebody who can rebound it’s a win-win situation.There’s nobody here anymore who has anything vested in him except money. The guys who drafted him have no reputation left to ruin. With 65 million and lose his 19 million is 84 and almost 30 for losing Okoro, Jones, and Smith a person could do some damage with 100 million in Cap Space in the NBA.
Damage ?
I’ll bite Mike, please tell me HOW you want to (effectively) spend 65~100 Mill in this free agency in the summer ?
I’m guessing you don’t watch much basketball? Miller is a nice prospect, very athletic and plays hard. But Watson is a solid starter-level, two-way player who will still get better. Nothing wrong with Miller, both are good for the Bulls, but Watson would be a huge add.
Exactly Mike. I forgot about miller. The kid shows a lot of potential and honestly if he continues to work on his game over the summer, he could be even better than Watson. I know that’s a hot take, but I can see it happening if everything goes right
Yep, definitely a hot take there. But I hope you are right.
The guy averages 5 Rebounds a night. That’s not anybody the Bulls need right now. I watch enough basketball to know that ain’t worth 90 million bucks. You should watch more.
No Mike,I don’t think you do. And I don’t think you knew how many rebounds he got until 5 minutes ago when you looked up his stats. But maybe I’m wrong about that. And maybe you are right about Watson, and the GMs of the Lakers, Nuggets and whoever the Bulls end up with will be wrong. Because Watson is surely going to get paid this summer, well above 4/$90. There are multiple teams that will be in the mix for him. We’ll just have to see how it turns out.
Well they say a sucker is born every minute. Doesn’t mean it always has to be the Bulls. I’ll let you know after they hire somebody and he actually says what it is he wants to do and what they’ll let him do. Heck Ayo had better stats than that and they didn’t pay him.
Cant see the Lakers waiting the 48+ hrs for the RFA bids…. or shall I say I cant see Kennard Smart Ayton Rui ect waiting around to (maybe) be 2nd fiddle so I don’t think RFA offers are in the cards for the Lakers
Too much risk being left without a chair when the music goes off . Chi and Brk probably have that luxury of waiting today tho
From what I’ve read, Lakers are really interested in Watson. The teams could potentially agree to a sign-and-trade. Watson for LaRavia for example would give Denver a decent backup, and save them $20 million or so in salary.
I’d like to see the nugs make some moves to keep him. They’d have to make some difficult cuts to the roster, but I think they really need more offensive firepower. Maybe trading Braun is the move. He’s a great role player but he give them the offense that they need. They rely too much on the Jokic/Murray pick and role and need another creator.
Exactly right. It’s always the Jokic/Murray pick and role. Nuggets somehow need to find a way to get the other three players on the court involved. As great as Jokic and Murray are, they get tired late in the game.
The teams are figuring out all of Jokers sneaky passes too, especially the Wolves. They have the Nuggets all figured out
Bulls have no GM or coach, why would they be viewed as anything on anyone yet?
You make a good point, but I think it’s the most obvious thing to do. I mean, if you were interviewing for the Bulls GM job, what would you pitch to Reinsdorf that you were going to do? There are four really good RFA’s this summer, and Watson is the most gettable of them.
Brooklyn can probably afford it since they are $5000000000 below the salary cap.
Denver needs to keep him. Cameron Johnson must be traded along with Nnaji or Jonas with three 2nds for a 2nd somewhere that has cap space
I had said trade for Middleton’s expiring contract but nope
Resign Watson
Sign some players on the minimum with the chance of a championship.
Give everyone extra rest
When was the last time a RFA on Watson’s level was allowed to walk away on an offer sheet or via S&T for nominal value? DEN is cheaper than most, true, but it’s also the case that Watson is a core player for them and they (money notwithstanding) want to keep it that way. Last year, 3 of the top 4 RFAs were not ever going to be in their team’s core, and they still had to re-sign with them.
Did Silver indicate he’s going to propose some great new rules to fix the RFA situation, like he’s doing with tanking?
There’s been 4 since 2020
There was 84 from 2000-2020
Last one accepted was Paul Reed in 2023 to Utah but Det matched
Last one to actually move was Bogdan Bogdanavich in 2020 where Atl offered 4/72 and Sac let him walk
I don’t see PW walking either and it take a hell of a lot more than 4/90 to even get Den to scratch there head
Yeah there have been 4 RFAs that changed teams since 2020: Lonzo Ball, Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Grant Williams. All via sign-and-trades.
They made a mistake trading Porter Jr and a 1st for another year of Cameron Johnson lol.
Why make another mistake letting Watson go. He works next to Bruan
Yeah, Denver’s got to decide who they are going to give up. They can’t afford to keep everyone they’ve got. They probably won’t think too much about it until after their season is over.