Peyton Watson? More like Pay The Watson.
The Nuggets’ fourth-year wing was held out of Friday night’s visit to Milwaukee with a double-ankle sprain — pain in both his left one and right one. [Which is ironic, considering how many ankles he’s been breaking this month.](https://www.denverpost.com/2026/01/22/nuggets-wizards-game-injuries-nikola-jokic-pregame-routine/)
And the hoops wonks on the Grading The Week team are wondering if Nuggets management is kicking itself on a nightly basis for not giving Watson an extension before the start of the season.
With only a few months left on his four-year rookie deal, Watson doesn’t just look like the best bargain in the NBA right now. He might be one of the top free agents on the open market next summer. If the Nuggets let him get away.
And with the kind of potential and ceiling he’s been flashing, they might have to. As a restricted free agent, the Nuggets will have a hard time matching a “max” contract offer from another club. If Watson keeps playing the way he did this past Thursday night, somebody might be rolling the Brink’s truck the young man’s way.
January’s been good to P-Swat, but not nearly as good as he’s been for Denver’s January. The athletic wing dropped a career-high 35 points on Washington a few nights ago in a 107-97 Nuggets road victory.
The high-flying, 6-foot-8 Watson has been a two-way threat and shot-blocking/rim-protecting specialist from Day 1 as a Nugget. A “role” dude. Only for the last three or four weeks, that role is turning into “superstar.” Now that Watson’s added a more consistent shooting touch to his game, he’s added a piece of history to the back of his basketball trading card as well.
In addition to his 35-point outburst, the former UCLA star is now the first player in NBA history to ever post a single-game stat line of 35 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, two steals and six 3-point makes.
#### Peyton Watson’s week — A-minus
Come to think of it, if there was ever a stat line that summed up Watson’s ceiling, at least from a production standpoint, Thursday might have pretty well nailed it.
It was Watson’s fourth 30-point game this season alone. His previous career-high in scoring over his first three seasons in the NBA was 24 points.
While the Nuggets as a whole may be hitting a wall — or scraping it, at least — since losing star center Nikola Jokic late last month, Watson has cowboyed up in a big way.
Over three games from last Sunday through Thursday, Watson averaged 21.3 points (second on the squad only to Jamal Murray’s 22.7), 3.3 3-point makes, 5.7 boards, two assists, two steals and 2.7 blocks.
In the 13 games since the loss of Jokic, Watson averaged 23.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks. With the Big Honey reportedly on the way back as soon, maybe as soon as Tuesday, it’ll be fascinating to see how Watson’s juice carries over with the big player on the planet back in Nuggets blue. And whether or not it changes the minds of the Kroenkes when it comes to keeping the 23-year-old California native around as a “core piece” of the Jokic Era puzzle.
#### Ceal Barry recognition day in Boulder — A
While the GTW crew is, to be honest, more than a little worried about the state of some of our local men’s college basketball teams lately, at least the women’s hoops squads are more than picking up the pace. CSU was 16-4 going into a Saturday tilt at Fresno State; UNC is on a 20-win pace, and CU beat Iowa State, which sat at No. 32 in the NCAA’s Net rankings as of late last Friday night, back on January 14. Most of the Grades staff is going to be tied up on Sunday, for obvious reasons, but we’re going to try to keep one eye on the Buffs’ contest against Oklahoma State that day anyway. Because before the game, CU will dedicate “Ceal Barry Plaza,” named for legendary ex-Buffs women’s basketball coach Ceal Barry, outside the Events Center. As BoCo legacies go, a permanent tribute to Barry isn’t just deserved. It’s overdue.
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