Anthony Irwin floated a hypothetical 2028 Lakers path to Nikola Jokic, arguing that Denver's Peyton Watson trade could frustrate Jokic while his close relationship with Luka Doncic creates a long-term pairing angle.
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Nikola Jokic has not requested a trade, and there is no indication that the Denver Nuggets are currently shopping their franchise superstar.
However, Lakers insider Anthony F. Irwin believes Denver's decision to trade Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers could eventually have bigger consequences than just one roster move.
Speaking on the Lakers Lounge Mailbag, Irwin connected Watson's exit to a larger long-term question about Jokic's future and whether the Nuggets are still committed to maximizing the prime of their three-time MVP.
According to Irwin, the Lakers were closely watching the Watson situation before Denver moved him to Cleveland.
"I'm told the Lakers really, really liked Peyton Watson and were closely monitoring that situation throughout all of it as it was playing out," Irwin said.
Irwin later added that the Lakers were waiting to see if Watson would remain in Denver on the qualifying offer, which could have opened a future path for Los Angeles.
"The Lakers were monitoring this very, very closely," Irwin said. "They were watching to see if Peyton Watson would eventually wind up on the qualifying offer there in Denver. And had he landed or remained in Denver on the qualifying offer, the Lakers were ready to pounce."
Instead, Watson signed a four-year, $88 million deal and was traded to the Cavaliers, ending that possibility for the Lakers.
Irwin wonders how Jokic views Nuggets' direction
Irwin argued that Denver's decision could be frustrating from Jokic's perspective because Watson was the Nuggets' best young player and filled a valuable role.
For Irwin, the move showed that the Nuggets were willing to sacrifice talent for financial reasons.
"There's nothing that has to be so deflating as a player, as a superstar, having put all of the work that it takes to reach that level in the sport to then be employed by an owner who cares about money to the extent that Stan Kroenke did in making this decision," Irwin said.
Irwin then went even further, saying he would tell Jokic to prepare for a possible exit if he were advising him.
"If I were advising Nikola Jokic, I would tell him, 'All right, start putting those ducks in a line, ducks in a row, whatever you want to call it, to eventually make your exit,'" Irwin said.
Irwin's reasoning was that Denver may be nearing a larger roster pivot around Jokic.
"I think the pivot is coming," Irwin said. "I think the pivot is coming for Denver where they try to completely tear down the pieces around Jokic and try to build back up."
He added that such a reset would be difficult to pull off during Jokic's prime.
"That's a difficult thing to do during a player's prime, and you're going to waste a season or two of his prime in those efforts," Irwin said.
Luka Doncic connection creates Lakers angle
Irwin then connected the situation to the Lakers because of Jokic's relationship with Luka Doncic.
"The ties to the Lakers are pretty obvious here," Irwin said. "For one thing, you have Luka Doncic, who is very close friends with Nikola Jokic."
Irwin also explained why the basketball fit would be fascinating, pointing to the possibility of a Doncic-Jokic offensive partnership.
"You would be able to run pick and roll with Luka and with Jokic in a really interesting way," Irwin said.
The most notable part of Irwin's comments came when he mentioned 2028 as a possible long-term window.
"Both those guys are maybe looking at 2028 when they could make some kind of decision or a series of decisions that would eventually lead them to playing together," Irwin said.
Irwin made sure to clarify that he is not saying the Lakers are already clearing cap space for Jokic.
"And I'm not saying that the Lakers are going to start clearing the books," Irwin said.
Still, he noted that the Lakers now have new ownership, which could change the franchise's long-term thinking.
"But you know what else just happened this summer is completely different bosses who didn't sign those contracts," Irwin said.
Jokic's contract situation
Jokic is currently on the five-year, $276.1 million supermax extension he signed with the Nuggets in 2022. The deal runs through 2027-28, with the final season listed as a player option worth about $62.8 million.
That makes 2028 an important date in any long-term speculation, even though Jokic has publicly said he wants to remain in Denver.
Jokic said he hopes to play for the Nuggets "forever," while also noting that he planned to hold off on signing his next extension until the following summer.
Irwin's point was not that Jokic is already planning to leave.
Instead, the insider suggested that the Lakers could eventually position themselves if Denver's direction and Jokic's extension talks become uncertain.
"If the Lakers do eventually elect to trade some of these longer-term deals for deals that maybe do offer some more flexibility in that summer of 2028, depending on how the next year or so goes for both Luka and Jokic's extension negotiations and talks, you could arrive at 2028," Irwin said.
In that scenario, Irwin said the Lakers could theoretically put pressure on Denver by making it clear they would like their chances in free agency.
"The Lakers could basically look at Denver and be like, 'We like our chances at Jokic in free agency, so either we start putting our heads together on some kind of a trade that doesn't completely belittle you or completely dismantle the goodwill that you built during the Jokic era, or we wait till he gets to free agency and we see what he selects and what he decides to do there,'" Irwin said.
For now, this remains a hypothetical long-term scenario. Jokic is still under contract with Denver, and he has publicly expressed a desire to stay with the Nuggets.
But Irwin believes the Watson trade was still a good development for the Lakers because it weakened a Western Conference rival and could, at least in theory, make Jokic look differently at Denver's direction.
"It was a good day for the Lakers in that the Nuggets got worse in a way that might have pissed off a superstar who wants to play with Luka," Irwin said.
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