The Los Angeles Clippers have spent this offseason doing that thing where they look financially flexible while everyone else panics about the luxury tax. And now they’re reportedly circling one of the more intriguing restricted free agents on the board: Denver Nuggets forward Peyton Watson.
According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Clippers are positioning themselves to make a serious run at Watson. This is the same front office that’s also keeping an eye on Bennedict Mathurin’s restricted free agency situation. But Watson is the name that keeps coming up in league circles as a realistic target.
NBA insider Marc Stein put it plainly recently: Watson continues to be described as a likely Clippers target.
That’s not exactly a secret handshake type of rumor. It’s out there. Teams know it.
Why Watson fits the Clippers
Watson is 6’8″ with arms that seem to stretch into another time zone. He’s the kind of wing defender who can bother shots at the rim and switch onto guards on the perimeter. The Clippers have been collecting players like that for years. He’s not a polished scorer yet, but his defensive versatility is the kind of thing that gets front offices excited during July negotiations.
The Nuggets know what they have. Denver is reportedly prepared to offer Watson something in the $28-30 million annual range. That’s a lot for a guy who’s still figuring out his offensive game. But the market sets the price, and the Clippers might force Denver to pay up or lose him.
Denver’s cap problem is real
The Nuggets are in a tough spot financially. They’ve already traded out of the first round of the draft just to create some breathing room. Multiple teams have been contacted about salary-clearing deals involving Cam Johnson, Christian Braun, and Aaron Gordon. That’s a lot of roster churn for a team that just won a title two years ago.
Watson is a restricted free agent, which means Denver can match any offer sheet he signs. But matching a $30 million starting salary pushes their tax bill even higher. That’s the rub. The Nuggets want to keep him. They also need to get under the tax. Those two things are currently fighting each other.
The competition is real
It’s not just the Clippers sniffing around. The Lakers, Bulls, and Nets are also monitoring Watson’s situation. So if LA wants to steal him away, they’ll probably need to structure an offer sheet at the maximum threshold. That means making it expensive enough that Denver hesitates. We’ve seen this game before. It usually ends with the original team matching, but not always.
The Clippers have some cap flexibility partly because of the uncertainty around Kawhi Leonard’s future. That trade chatter isn’t going away either. But for now, the front office is focused on adding young, long, switchable defenders to a roster that already has a few old heads. Watson fits that profile. The question is whether the Nuggets can afford to keep him.
Leave a Comment