{"id":411970,"date":"2025-11-29T03:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/411970\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T03:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:11:13","slug":"peyton-watson-on-switching-agents-thriving-in-nuggets-starting-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/411970\/","title":{"rendered":"Peyton Watson on switching agents, thriving in Nuggets’ starting lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

With money on the line, Peyton Watson<\/a> has been money from the 3-point line.\n<\/p>\n

The fourth-year Nuggets wing was 64% from the corners on a team-leading 25 attempts this season, entering their NBA Cup clash with the Spurs on Friday. He has registered the two highest-scoring games of his career in the last two weeks (32 and 27 points), since taking over for the injured Christian Braun in Denver\u2019s starting lineup.<\/p>\n

Those scoring flourishes aren\u2019t even the reason Watson received his temporary promotion. \u201cHis special gift,\u201d coach David Adelman said, \u201cis the way he guards.\u201d But when a player is in a contract year<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t hurt to cash in on the increased playing time by making some 3s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHunting those looks,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThey\u2019re high-percentage looks for me. So anytime I can make some space for myself in that corner or just kind of get in Joker or Jamal\u2019s periphery so they can see me and find me in those spots, it\u2019s been great for me. It\u2019s just something that I\u2019ve repped out and I know I have to be elite with, especially with this team and the way we space the floor with Joker playing with his back to the basket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes my job easier if I\u2019m making those shots. It makes their job easier as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Watson\u2019s stock has been on the rise, he has also made a notable business decision with next summer in mind. The 23-year-old changed representation earlier this month from Excel Sports Management to Klutch Sports Group, the mega-agency founded and overseen by Rich Paul, LeBron James\u2019 longtime friend and agent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a big opportunity at hand this year for me in general on the court, and that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve been taking the most seriously,\u201d he said when asked about the change. \u201cAt the end of the day, (playing well) is just going to make my agent\u2019s job \u2014 whoever my agent is \u2014 easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets have had several Excel clients on their current and recent rosters, including Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Two seasons ago, Watson co-starred with Jokic in a series of commercials for a hotel booking website in a gig made possible by their shared representation.<\/p>\n

But he also has a past relationship with Klutch. Watson, who\u2019s from Los Angeles and played one season at UCLA, said that Paul represented him in college while NCAA athletes were gaining the right to profit on their name, image and likeness.<\/p>\n

Despite the more pronounced connection between the Nuggets and Excel, Watson is not necessarily alienating himself with the change. Starting power forward Aaron Gordon is also a client of an agent who works for Klutch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just decided to go with Excel to start my NBA career. Excel did nothing but great things for me,\u201d Watson said. \u201cSuper supportive. It was just more so a business decision on our side. It\u2019s something that we\u2019re happy with because of the support that Klutch shows. Just the love, the attention to detail is really next level. We\u2019re excited to be able to start that path. \u2026 But nothing but love to my previous agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson will be a restricted free agent next summer after he and the Nuggets were unable to agree to terms on a contract extension before this season. It\u2019s a mechanism in the NBA\u2019s collective bargaining agreement that traditionally favors the incumbent team. Watson\u2019s path to joining a new team without a sign-and-trade will require him to sign an offer sheet, the terms of which Denver has the opportunity to match.<\/p>\n

But the Nuggets may not want to retain him, depending on what it would mean for their roster payroll. Watson told The Denver Post last month that Denver\u2019s preference to stay out of the second tax apron<\/a> factored into its decision not to extend him during the window to do so. After Braun signed a five-year, $125 million deal, any subsequent extension for Watson would\u2019ve made the Nuggets a projected second-apron team for 2026-27.<\/p>\n

Those failed negotiations have been the backdrop for Watson\u2019s impressive start to the season. With both Braun and Gordon sidelined by injuries for the next few weeks, Watson will not only continue to start, he\u2019ll also be relied on to finish plays more frequently in a lineup anchored by Jokic, the best passer in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been such a willing learner,\u201d Murray said. \u201cAnd goes out there with passion. As he gets more comfortable taking that many shots and seeing the ball go through the hoop, it\u2019s just going to unlock his game.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not spacing in one of the corners \u2014 opponents have not caught up to his percentage yet, as they often help off of him \u2014 Watson can be worked into the offense as a screener and cutter in Denver\u2019s split game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not where his primary burden is, though. The Nuggets need lockdown defenders. Especially without Braun and Gordon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got really tough responsibilities, matchups every night against guys who are paid a lot of money because they\u2019re really good,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be his job. If he can score and pass and make plays offensively, that\u2019s the cherry on top. I expect him to bring great energy defensively and rebound the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson is averaging a career-high 4.8 boards per game in addition to his other contributions. His 32-point performance last week in New Orleans was also his first NBA double-double.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake: Watson has been pleased with himself. But Denver\u2019s recent home losses to Chicago and Sacramento are also stuck in his craw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve lost some more games than I would\u2019ve liked to with me in the lineup,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, I just always think about where I came from. It was a grind to get into the lineup. It was a grind to make my name in this NBA. But it\u2019s just been a journey.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With money on the line, Peyton Watson has been money from the 3-point line. The fourth-year Nuggets wing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":411971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[17654,42780,4439,12192,37810,8605,3134,4440,13117,3373,1370,3363,224,17660,1260,38985,1317,3369,50066,62,130,2501,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-411970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-christian-braun","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-contract","12":"tag-david-adelman","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-front-range","16":"tag-injuries","17":"tag-jamal-murray","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-lebron-james","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-more-nuggets-news","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-nba-cup","24":"tag-ncaa","25":"tag-nikola-jokic","26":"tag-peyton-watson","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-trade","29":"tag-ucla","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115630800019029870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}