Peyton Watson

Nuggets Notes: Jokic, Holmes, Backup Center, Gordon

December 31st, 2025 at 6:59pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Nuggets will have to find ways to win over the next month without star center Nikola Jokic, who will reportedly miss at least the next four weeks with a knee injury. Head coach David Adelman is doing his best to stay positive despite the massive blow the injury represents.

“Silver lining, it’s not season-ending but it was a very concerning moment for us,” Adelman said, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter link). “Not just because of the player he is, it’s because I know him… He’s one of the tougher people and players I’ve ever been around.”

Jokic joined the Nuggets in Toronto for tonight’s game, but Bennett Durando of the Denver Post tweets that the decision on whether he’ll stay for the rest of the team’s road trip is up in the air, and will likely be decided by a combination of Jokic, Adelman, executive vice president of player personnel Jon Wallace, and executive vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer.

When asked about how Jokic is handling one of the most significant injuries in his playing career, Adelman replied (per Lewenberg): “He’s in a good place. He always is never too high and every now and then hilariously low.”

We have more from the Nuggets:

DaRon Holmes II, who should move up the depth chart during Jokic’s absence, views the time he’s spent with the Nuggets’ G League affiliate as a valuable chance to show the parent team what he’s capable of, according to Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype. “We’re just trying to show what we can do. And hopefully there’s an opportunity because of that. There are times in training camp when young guys like me don’t get viewed a lot because of our age or because of injuries, or youth,” Holmes said. “So hopefully this can showcase our skill set, so our coaches can see and other teams can see as well… just have fun and get my teammates involved and do things that I would do that would translate up top with the Nuggets as well.” Holmes says that he has watched Jokic closely to unlock other parts of his game, such as play-making, cutting, and more.
With Jokic out and Jonas Valanciunas inserted into the starting lineup, the Nuggets will have to figure out their backup center rotation. “We’ll be creative with it,” Adelman said, per Durando (via Twitter). “We played a little bit of small ball in Miami with [Spencer Jones] — you can say Spence or Peyton [Watson], whatever you want to say. And obviously, we have Zeke (Nnaji). DaRon is with us, so we can go that way as well.” The Nuggets could use Watson in super small-ball lineups surrounded by shooters, Adelman notes, adding that the decision will be made with an eye towards what will help star guard Jamal Murray be the most effective.
Aaron Gordon has taken minutes at the five in the past, Durando writes, but the history of hamstring and calf injuries that Gordon has dealt with in recent years will prompt the team to be cautious with him. The physical toll of playing major minutes at center after coming off a hamstring injury that has limited him to just 13 games this season could prove too risky, given Gordon’s importance to the team’s outlook in the playoffs.

Nuggets Notes: Jokic, Johnson, Gordon, Braun

December 26th, 2025 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Nuggets got a historic performance Thursday from Nikola Jokic to pull out their latest memorable game against the rival Timberwolves, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Jokic posted the first 55-15-15 stat line in NBA history, finishing with 56 points, 16 rebounds and 15 assists in the overtime victory. Jokic called it a “good game,” but some of his teammates were more effusive.

“We’re watching history. … This is something that doesn’t happen again,” Peyton Watson said. “We will never see anything like this again. And I think everybody needs to be really paying attention. … We can’t continue to just dismiss what this guy does on a night-to-night basis. Bro, it’s unbelievable.”

Jokic shot 15-of-21 from the field and 22-of-23 from the foul line and made several huge plays to salvage a game that featured numerous momentum swings in the closing minutes. Denver squandered a 15-point lead with five minutes left to go in regulation and couldn’t hold onto a six-point advantage in the final 35 seconds as Anthony Edwards forced the extra session with a late three-pointer from the corner. The Wolves scored the first nine points of overtime, but the Nuggets closed the game on a 27-14 run over the final three minutes.

“It sounds crazy, but I didn’t think we were completely out of it, just because the way that game was and the shot-making and the star players doing what they did,” Denver coach David Adelman said. “You just felt like there were more moments to the game, if we could just ourselves back into it.”

There’s more from Denver:

The Nuggets are relieved that Cameron Johnson‘s knee injury is only a bone bruise with no structural damage, but it still leaves them down three starters, Durando states in a separate story. Johnson is projected to miss at least four-to-six weeks, forcing Adelman to make adjustments to his lineups. “You have an intelligent ‘guesstimation’ of a new rotation to play. I think you have to give it a couple of games. Let’s just say it doesn’t go well today; you can’t just say, ‘OK, well let’s scrap it,’” Adelman said. “So yeah, we’ll just reinvent ourselves as we go here. I’m looking at this as just another chapter in the season, you know what I mean? It’s what it is. I feel for Cam, man. I just felt like his trajectory was just going up. Not the stats; just how he was playing. He was a high-minute guy for us, helping bridge the gap between the starters and the second unit.”
Aaron Gordon, who has made just one brief appearance since November 17 due to a strained right hamstring, and Christian Braun, who has been sidelined since November 12 with a sprained left ankle, are both making progress toward returning, Durando adds. Adelman watched Thursday as both players went through on-court workouts, but he stated the team will use caution in bringing them back. “It’s one of those things that just because other guys got hurt, you can’t hurry their process,” he said. “So we just have to do what we have to do right now. And I like the group we have. All year long, there’s been no crazy ups and downs emotionally. We’ve just gotta continue to do what we’re doing.”
Bobby Marks of ESPN examines the Nuggets’ options to deal with their depleted roster. They have been carrying an open roster spot, and Marks notes that they could wait until January 5 to add a player when 10-day contracts begin. Denver also has trade exceptions worth $6.9MM and $5.4MM that could be used in a potential deal. However, the team is short on draft capital, with no first-round picks to trade after sending one to Brooklyn to acquire Johnson and only two second-rounders to deal. The Nuggets are also hovering right around the tax line and may be reluctant to add much salary to their books.

Injury Notes: Lakers, Knicks, Daniels, Watson, McConnell

December 22nd, 2025 at 5:33pm CST by Rory Maher

Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided encouraging updates on injured guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves on Monday, tweets Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group.

Doncic, who didn’t play in the second half of Saturday’s loss to the Clippers, has a lower left leg contusion and is considered day-to-day. The 26-year-old had the bruised area taped during the portion of Monday’s practice that was open to the media, Price notes.

Reaves was able to go through portions of Monday’s practice and is also considered day-to-day, Redick said. The fifth-year guard has missed the past three games with a left calf strain the team described as mild.

[UPDATE: Doncic is out Tuesday at Phoenix, but Reaves has been upgraded to questionable, the Lakers announced (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin).]

Starting center Deandre Ayton should return to action on Tuesday, according to Price. Ayton won’t be listed on the team’s injury report after sitting out the past two contests due to a sore left elbow.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

The Knicks will be shorthanded on Tuesday, as Eastern Conference Player of the Week Jalen Brunson (right ankle injury management), defensive ace OG Anunoby (left ankle soreness) and backup big man Guerschon Yabusele (illness) have all been ruled out ahead of the contest at Minnesota, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Brunson missed a couple of games in mid-November due to a right ankle sprain.
Reigning Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels has been ruled out of the Hawks‘ rematch with Chicago on Tuesday due to right hip inflammation, according to Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks (Twitter link). It will be Daniels’ first absence of the 2025/26 campaign. Reserve forward/center Mouhamed Gueye is also on the injury report, having been listed as questionable with a right shoulder sprain.
Nuggets forward Peyton Watson, who was kneed in between the hip and rib areas last Monday, had a minor setback in terms of the pain he’s experiencing from the injury, head coach David Adelman said ahead of Saturday’s loss to Houston (Twitter link via Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette). While Watson has been out most of the past three games with the right trunk contusion, it doesn’t sound like a long-term issue — Adelman said the former first-round pick had a 50% chance to play Saturday before he was ruled out.
Veteran Pacers guard T.J. McConnell will be sidelined for Monday’s game vs. Boston due to left knee soreness, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files relays (via Twitter). McConnell missed the first 10 games of the season with a strained hamstring, but had been active for the past 18 contests heading into Monday.

Nuggets Notes: Brown, Valanciunas, Watson, Jones, Strawther

December 17th, 2025 at 4:29pm CST by Luke Adams

With several players missing due to injuries and both of their centers on the sidelines after having fouled out, the Nuggets relied on their depth to secure a 128-125 overtime win over Houston on Monday. Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., and second-year forward Spencer Jones joined Jamal Murray and Cameron Johnson in Denver’s closing lineup.

“This is why they brought all of us in this summer, right?” Brown said after the victory, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). “For this exact situation. People go down. You never really have a season when everyone is just fully healthy for 82 games.”

Brown and Hardaway, who both rank among the Nuggets’ top six players in total minutes so far this season, signed minimum-salary contracts with the team as free agents over the summer. The other major offseason depth addition was center Jonas Valanciunas, who fouled out on Monday but has been an important rotation piece in his role as Nikola Jokic‘s backup this fall, Durando writes in another Denver Post story.

As Durando observes, Valanciunas has already appeared in more games (25) than the player for whom he was traded (Dario Saric) played last season (16). And while he’s only averaging 12.8 minutes per game, the veteran big man has made the most of his limited role, with 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per night. The Nuggets are still being outscored with Jokic off the floor, but their net rating when the three-time MVP is on the bench (-1.2) is the best it has been since 2020/21 by a significant margin.

Here’s more on the Nuggets:

With Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun out, the Nuggets haven’t missed a beat offensively, largely due to the way that role players like Jones and Peyton Watson have stepped up, Durando writes for The Denver Post. Watson has averaged 14.2 points per game on .529/.429/.694 shooting as a starter, while Jones has put up 8.2 PPG on .564/.448/.583 shooting in that role. The Nuggets’ lineup with those two alongside Jokic, Murray, and Johnson has a +19.4 net rating and a staggering 136.9 offensive rating in 143 minutes. “I did not expect us to score the ball like we have,” head coach David Adelman admitted. Both Watson and Jones will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end.
Watson exited Monday’s game due to what the team referred to as a right trunk contusion. “It was bone on bone,” Adelman said after the win (Twitter link via Durando). “… It could be totally fine tomorrow. But it hurt him. It was one of those stingers that he just couldn’t get himself warmed up again. … Nothing long-term as far as I understand. Just probably a bone bruise.” Watson told Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette (Twitter link) on Tuesday that he was kneed in between the hip and rib areas and that it hurts to do things like laugh and cough, but he has no structural damage.
Nuggets wing Julian Strawther was available to play on Monday after being inactive for 12 consecutive games due to a back injury (Twitter link via Benedetto). However, he was a DNP-CD. Strawther has averaged just 7.9 minutes per game in nine outings so far this season after playing 21.3 MPG in 65 games in 2024/25.

And-Ones: Undervalued Players, Calf Strains, Beverley, Morris

December 14th, 2025 at 1:19pm CST by Rory Maher

John Hollinger of The Athletic lists seven “undervalued” players from around the NBA who are making an outsized impact relative to their contracts. The seven players are specifically “hard-playing, unheralded guys with a little bit of extra edge to them,” as Hollinger puts it.

Raptors backup point guard Jamal Shead is the first player listed, which isn’t surprising. As Hollinger writes, Shead made an immediate impact as a rookie due to his strong defense, but his offensive improvements in year two have made him a key part of Toronto’s rotation.

While the 23-year-old’s shooting is still a “work in progress,” he is processing the game at a higher level in 2025/26.

“Just going left and making reads,” Shead said of his offseason improvement. “It’s not always about scoring, it’s about if they’re trying to push me left or right in the ball screen, can I still make the read out of that? I’m understanding the pace of the game and how to really create for my teammates. … Impacting defense is what I’m going to do regardless, but I’m impacting offense this year a lot more too.”

Suns guard Jordan Goodwin, Nuggets forward Peyton Watson, and Hornets center Moussa Diabate are among the other players highlighted by Hollinger.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In an interesting and in-depth story for Yahoo Sports, Tom Haberstroh takes a look at the increase in players missing time with calf strains this season. While there are two very famous examples (Kevin Durant and Tyrese Haliburton) of players with calf injuries later tearing their Achilles tendon, those cases have been the exception and not the rule. “The interesting thing is, historically, a calf strain is thought of as this completely separate injury from an Achilles tear,” said Dr. Scott Ellis of the Hospital of Special Surgery (HSS) in New York. “When you have somebody with an Achilles rupture, nine times out of 10 — actually, even more, 99% of the time — they don’t have anything that you could pick up structurally in an imaging exam on their Achilles.”
Longtime NBA guard Patrick Beverley, who spent last season in Israel, has reached a contract agreement with the Greek club PAOK, reports Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops.net. According to Miloradovic, Beverley is expected to arrive in Thessaloniki — where the team is based — on Saturday evening to finalize the deal, which is pending a physical. Beverley, whose last NBA stint was with Milwaukee in 2023/24, was arrested last month in Texas and charged with assault of a family/household member. TMZ reported that Beverley was accused of punching his sister in the eye and choking her for between 20 and 30 seconds.
Veteran NBA guard Monte Morris, who spent time with the Pacers earlier this season, officially signed with the Greek EuroLeague team Olympiacos last week. Eurohoops.net passes along some highlights from Morris’ introductory press conference.

Northwest Notes: Edwards, Blazers, Watson, Strawther

November 27th, 2025 at 10:06pm CST by Rory Maher

Although Donte DiVincenzo replaced Mike Conley in the starting lineup entering the 2025/26 season, head coach Chris Finch says it’s more accurate to describe Anthony Edwards as the Timberwolves‘ point guard, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

“Anthony’s probably more of our point guard than Donte is our point guard,” Finch said. “He has the ball. He is our lead guard in that regard.”

Edwards, a former No. 1 overall pick who has been an All-Star each of the past three seasons, says he’s still adjusting to the role.

“I just got to get used to being a point guard, going to get the rock at the end of the game, bringing it up, even though they pressure,” Edwards said.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

The Trail Blazers were disappointed to be eliminated from the NBA Cup on Wednesday, but their young roster valued competing in a game with relatively higher stakes — they would have clinched the top seed in their group if they had beaten San Antonio. “We wanted it,” said Deni Avdija, who finished with 37 points, eight assists and six rebounds (story via Kevin Pelton of ESPN). “We wanted that game. It was a good opportunity for us to advance in the Cup. We fought. We tried to be in the game. It was a tough game; it was a close game. I feel like it was a first taste of kind of like a playoff game. I know I’m not experienced, other guys are not experienced yet, and it was a tough test for us, but I think from this game we can learn a lot.”
Nuggets forward Peyton Watson switched agencies a couple weeks ago, going from Excel Sports to Klutch Sports Group. Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette asked Watson about the decision on Wednesday (Twitter link). The 2022 first-round pick explained that he had a good relationship with Excel, but viewed Klutch’s “attention to detail” as beneficial ahead of restricted free agency next summer. “There’s a big opportunity at hand just this year for me in general on the court, and that’s something I’ve been taking the most seriously, because at the end of the day that’s just going to make my agent’s job, whoever my agent is, easier if I’m doing my job out there on the court,” Watson said as part of a larger quote.
Third-year wing Julian Strawther will miss his sixth straight game on Friday vs. San Antonio due to lower back injury management, the Nuggets announced (via Twitter). When healthy, Strawther has largely been out of the rotation this season following the free agent additions of Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Nuggets Notes: Watson, Holmes, Hardaway Jr., Grade

November 25th, 2025 at 10:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Peyton Watson will be a restricted free agent after the season. The Nuggets wing’s best path to a large contract next offseason could be as a three-and-D player, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post writes.

Watson has been starting with Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun sidelined. His two highest-scoring games of his career have occurred in the past week — 32 points against New Orleans and 27 against Memphis — and he has made a handful of three-pointers in each of those contests, having been particularly adept at hitting corner threes.

Here’s more on the Nuggets:

DaRon Holmes, a 2024 first-round pick, has only appeared in two games but he was recently recalled by the NBA club. Coach David Adelman said it’s important to have roster players around their NBA teammates at times, even when they’re getting extended playing time in the G League, Durando tweets. “The guys that are down there, we have to get them back with us and then send them back,” he said. “They need to get back with the guys, keep a relationship with the coaching staff. If you leave guys down there too long, I think it’s unfair to them as a professional player. So we’ll do the best we can to rotate them through.”
Durando interviewed Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s college and high school coaches, weaving them into the narrative that Hardaway makes for an ideal role player. Hardaway is averaging 11.1 points per game off the bench after signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract as a free agent.
In his latest mailbag, Durando ranks the top five passes by Nikola Jokic that he’s seen. He also grades the Nuggets at the quarter mark of the season, giving them an A-minus. The only reason he didn’t give them an A is that they lost two home games to inferior opponents.

Nuggets Notes: Watson, Nnaji, Johnson, Barea, Depth

November 20th, 2025 at 3:41pm CST by Luke Adams

After not reaching an agreement this offseason on a rookie scale extension with the Nuggets, Peyton Watson got off to a quiet start, averaging 6.4 points per game on .441/.263/.720 shooting through 13 games. But with Christian Braun (left ankle sprain) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring injury management) both inactive on Wednesday, Watson took advantage of his increased offensive responsibilities and had a career night, with 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes (subscription required).

“I knew there was gonna be a need for me to kind of increase my offensive load a little bit. I didn’t have any idea that I was gonna have 30,” said Watson, who had never scored more than 24 points in a game in his first three-plus NBA seasons.

Even when he’s not scoring, Watson plays a regular rotation role for Denver because of his defense. He leads the team in blocks per game (1.1) and ranks third behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in steals per game (1.1). On Wednesday though, the Pelicans dared him to shoot and he responded by making a career-high five three-pointers on nine attempts.

“I went to him,” teammate Bruce Brown said. “I was like, ‘Look, they’re gonna give you 10 (attempts). I know you’re gonna hit four or five of them. So keep shooting.’ That’s what he did.”

Brown added that “this should be a big year” for Watson, pointing out that he’s playing smarter and more aggressively than in the past.

“You can tell he’s been in the league for multiple years,” Brown said.

We have more on the Nuggets:

Little-used forward Zeke Nnaji, who had played just 20 total minutes in six appearances entering Wednesday’s game, started in Gordon’s place and then was part of the closing lineup after Jokic fouled out. Nnaji scored just two points and was a -18 in nearly 27 minutes of action, but the Nuggets viewed him as their best bet for slowing down Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, who shot 2-of-7 from the floor when defended by Nanji, per NBA.com. “Coach (David Adelman) said Zion was probable, and if he plays, I’m gonna start, and if he doesn’t, he’ll go with someone else — but stay ready,” Nnaji told Durando. “So he gave me the heads-up, and I was able to prepare. … It’s just a mentality of matching his physicality. He’s a physical driver. He wants to get downhill to that left hand. It’s knowing what he likes to do, what he’s trying to get to and being ready for the challenge. Try to show your hands. Stay clean. Alter his shots.”
After making just 8-of-38 three-pointers to open the season, Nuggets offseason addition Cameron Johnson has knocked down 6-of-10 in his past two games. According to Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Johnson’s new coaches and teammates were never worried about his ability to break out of that early slump. “Everyone has been saying, ‘What is going on with Cam?'” Adelman said after Johnson hit five three-pointers against Chicago on Monday. “Well, it’s going to happen. Cam is going to make shots. That is the bottom line. That is why we’ve been patient with this. That was really good to see.”
In an interesting story for The Denver Post, Durando details how former NBA guard J.J. Barea got his start as a coach and how the Nuggets assistant reunited with Adelman in Denver after first working together in Minnesota over a decade ago. “He was really good just talking with players, having that relationship with me,” Barea said. “He’s no bull-(crap). He’ll tell you how it is. He’ll tell you straight up to your face. And his dad (Rick Adelman) is similar. I was always a fan of his dad, the way they did things. … I was like, these are two good people to know and learn from more about the NBA.”
One reason the Nuggets are off to an impressive 11-3 start is their improved depth, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “We have different type of players, and they’re gluing into our system really good,” Jokic said. “Different positions, different personnel, different types of players, and everything is working out for us, defensively first and then offensively. Everybody’s buying in.”

Rory Maher contributed to this post.

Nuggets Notes: Watson, Johnson, Braun, Jokic, Jones, Brown, Strawther

November 13th, 2025 at 5:48pm CST by Rory Maher

After failing to come to terms on a rookie scale extension before the season began, Nuggets forward Peyton Watson will head to restricted free agency in the 2026 offseason, assuming he’s given a qualifying offer. He’ll have new representation when that time comes, having joined Klutch Sports Group, the agency announced (via Twitter).

As Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette tweets, Watson was previously represented by Excel Sports. The 23-year-old has averaged 6.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 21.1 minutes per contest through 11 games this season.

We have several more items on the Nuggets:

A pair of starters were forced to leave Wednesday’s win over the Clippers due to injuries, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Offseason addition Cameron Johnson exited in the first quarter with a right arm strain, while Christian Braun sustained a left ankle injury late in the first period and briefly tried to play through it before exiting in the second. Both players were ruled out at halftime. “Obviously, whatever happened wasn’t good enough for them to come back out and play the third quarter, so that’s concerning,” head coach David Adelman said after the team’s sixth consecutive win. “But I really don’t know, and I don’t think they do either. We have a full day here (in Los Angeles) tomorrow to kind of get all that stuff sorted out, which will be good for me, too. Because if they are out, or if they’re in, we have to figure out a way to make our rotation make sense. … So I’m hoping for the best.”
Entering Wednesday’s game, which was the second night of a back-to-back, the Nuggets were 0-4 (including the playoffs) when Nikola Jokic scored 50-plus points. After an incredibly efficient 55-point outing against the Clips — he shot 18-of-23 from the field, 5-of-6 on three-pointers, and 14-of-16 from the foul line in just 34 minutes — the three-time MVP was more focused on the result than his individual performance. “I think I scored, a couple of times, more than 50, and we lost every time. I think this is the first time I scored 50 that we won. So it’s a good feeling,” Jokic said, per Durando. The Serbian center has been on a remarkable tear during Denver’s six-game winning streak, notes Beth Harris of The Associated Press, averaging 35.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 11.0 assists and 1.8 steals on .739/.556/.857 shooting over that span (33.3 minutes).
Second-year forward Spencer Jones, who is on a two-way contract, has emerged as a defensive specialist for the Nuggets, according to Durando. Jones, who did an admirable job of slowing down James Harden on Wednesday, is fully aware that his playing time might be limited from game to game. “You just have to come in, guard one of the better players out there,” he said. “You don’t really know when you’re gonna come in, when you’re gonna go out, what games you’re gonna play. So it’s just always being ready.”
Bruce Brown‘s role with the Nuggets is different than it was when he helped the team win its first title in 2023, Durando writes for The Denver Post. The veteran guard operated on the ball more the last time around, and he acknowledges he’s still getting used to his new responsibilities. “Little different. I’m still getting adjusted to it,” Brown said of round two with Denver. “Obviously, when you come back to a situation where you were before, you think it’s gonna be exactly the same, but it’s not, obviously. But all I care about is winning. I’m trying to put another banner up. So I’m still getting adjusted to it. Sometimes you might see me come out of the game a little frustrated, just because I’m still getting used to it.”
Free agent additions Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. have squeezed out younger members of the rotation, such as third-year wing Julian Strawther, who is playing just 8.1 minutes per game after averaging 21.3 MPG in 2024/25. Jokic has been pleased with Strawther’s effort when he’s had a chance to play, as Durando relays. “He stays ready,” Jokic said. “He’s aggressive when he comes in the game, and that’s a good thing. He’s trying on defense. And I think that’s the mindset that he should have.”

Northwest Notes: Randle, Edwards, Watson, Jazz

October 27th, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Julius Randle was comfortable taking over as the Timberwolves‘ primary scoring option after Anthony Edwards left Sunday’s game early due to tightness in his right hamstring, writes Chris Hine of The Star-Tribune (subscription required). Randle wound up with 31 points on 11-for-18 shooting and six assists as Minnesota held off Indiana in its home opener.

“We don’t have to overreact, just do what we’ve been doing,” Randle said. “Naturally, the ball is going to find me a little bit more. So, it doesn’t change my mentality as far as trying to play the right way and make the right play. If they’re guarding me straight up, try to score. If they get in the gaps, help or double team, trust my teammates.”

Coach Chris Finch didn’t have an update on Edwards’ condition following the game, and the Wolves face a quick turnaround with Denver coming to town tonight. The injury appeared to happen with 3:07 gone in the first quarter when Edwards was hit on a layup, per ESPN. Finch pulled him from the game, and he was ruled out a short time later.

“Having Ant is a luxury, but I think he’ll be all right. I think he’ll play tomorrow,” Naz Reid said. “We’ve seen him do that plenty of times before.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

In an interview with Mark Medina of Essentially Sports, Randle talks about his decision to re-sign with the Timberwolves and his appreciation for Finch, who helped him adjust following a surprise trade from New York just before the start of last season. “The trust is always going to be there,” Randle said. “It’s also understanding too that, through adversity, how he showed up for me as well. That was important for me, knowing that he had my back. He was a big reason for me coming to Minnesota. He wanted me here. So that’s my guy, man. I’ll ride with Finch all day, for sure.”
Peyton Watson would have preferred a rookie scale extension, but he’s looking forward to the opportunity he’ll have as a restricted free agent next summer, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Durando points out that after giving Christian Braun a five-year, $125MM extension, the Nuggets were limited to about $7MM per year for Watson without moving into future second apron territory. “From what I understand, it was just a financial business decision (for the Nuggets). Obviously, with the new CBA and the second apron, things of that nature, they wanted to stay out of that,” Watson said. “As a business, you’ve gotta operate (based on) what’s best for your business. And when it comes time for me to make my decision next summer, I’ve gotta operate as a business myself.”
Sarah Todd of The Deseret News examines the advantage the Jazz have with multiple big men who are accomplished passers. Lauri Markkanen, Jusuf Nurkic, Kevin Love and Kyle Filipowski can all make plays for teammates, and Walker Kessler is working to reach that level.

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