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Peyton Watson is the Denver Nuggets’ Wild Card

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The shorthanded Denver Nuggets routed the one-handed Indiana Pacers Saturday night to cap off a perfect homestand. Young Peyton Watson, a regular contributor off the revamped bench, got a chance to start in Aaron Gordon’s stead. He delivered with an impressive two-way performance.

Watson scored 16 points and wrought havoc on the boards, pulling down seven total, including four on offense.

Most importantly, he turned Pascal Siakam’s night into a nightmare. The Pacers’ Power Forward finished with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting, 10 points shy of his season average. Watson overwhelmed him.

“(I was) just being myself and bringing my own kind of defensive player to the game,” Watson explained. “AG is super physical, and he’s really good at battling and warring inside with those guys. But my technique is a little bit different, and that’s what I used tonight. And it worked.”

“It’s give and take,” Watson continued. “Be physical to start, but then give up a little bit of ground so I don’t foul. I think that a lot of times, guys are expecting the contact, and they throw up a shot that they can’t necessarily make. As long as you don’t foul them and you keep the contact marginal, for the most part, you should be good, and that’s what happened tonight.”

Watson has already demonstrated the ability to lock down high-caliber players, and he’s quickly established himself as a highlight-generating shot blocker. That’s what got him drafted, and why he remains vital to Denver’s bench operation, even after the addition of depth. But he’s still searching for an offensive identity.

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He spoke last season about wanting to defend, rebound, and push the ball up the floor as a decision-maker. If he didn’t have a defined role in the half-court, he could always convert stops into production on the other end. He was good at the preliminary steps. When he put his head down to score, however, he frustrated fans with misadventures at the rim.

Watson is getting more opportunities with the ball in his hands to start the new campaign. That’s beneficial for his development, although it’s mostly a supportive role for now, aimed at alleviating Murray’s workload more than anything. Finishing in transition remains the easiest way to make an impact on offense.

As Head Coach David Adelman said in the preseason, the simplest solution might just be to dunk more. Easy enough, I suppose, and Watson made it look easy with five slams against the Pacers.

Watson played wide receiver this time around, logging heavy minutes alongside Jokić. When the Nuggets got a stop, he opened up his stride and broke for the rim, trusting 15 to find him — a nice luxury of his spot in the starting lineup.

“The moment he sees me, his eyes light up,” Watson said. “We make eye contact, and he kind of lofts it over everybody, and it’s always right on the money. I’m just making sure that I can receive the pass the way I need to and go finish it down on the other end. It’s a blessing to play with him.”

After the win, Adelman sounded less impressed by the scoring than he was with the dirty work. While Watson searches for a role on offense, it’s his other skills that are earning him playing time. He’s not on this roster to save the day with his shotmaking.

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“For Peyton tonight — yes, he scored, and he hasn’t scored a lot as of late,” David Adelman explained. “But if he can just do that nightly, block shots, rebound, run the floor, and let the scoring be what it is, then he’s playing winning basketball, and that’s all we need from him.”

That framing highlights an interesting dynamic. The Nuggets do need something from Watson. They need him to play defense at a high level and succeed in the role Adelman articulated. It can help push them over the top in the pursuit of another title. But despite needing something from him, they have yet to commit to him.

The Nuggets tidied up their cap sheet over the offseason and put a bow on a busy summer with an extension for Christian Braun. While the ink dried on that deal, the deadline expired on Watson’s. The 23-year-old is heading for restricted free agency, with his future uncertain. In the meantime, he will determine the extent of Denver’s depth.

Despite his age, Watson is already at a crossroads in his career. He needs developmental minutes and a chance to showcase his abilities with free agency on the horizon. The Nuggets need a reliable piece off the bench, one focused on playing defense and battling for rebounds. There’s a potential disconnect there.

Still, despite the lack of room for him financially, there’s room for him in the rotation. If he embraces and succeeds in the role, then the Nuggets will have a formidable rotation to work with in the postseason. Their most formidable yet.