Peyton Watson’s final game with the Denver Nuggets turned out to be a nine-minute appearance against the Utah Jazz in April. The 6-foot-8 guard re-aggravated a hamstring injury in that game, ending his season.
On Wednesday, the Nuggets sent Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers after a prolonged free agency stalemate.
Two days later, his agent, Rich Paul, revealed that Watson could have played in the 2026 playoffs but was held out.
Peyton Watson Fallout Takes Another Turn With Rich Paul’s Latest CommentsWatson first suffered the hamstring injury on Feb. 4 in Denver’s 134-127 double overtime loss to the New York Knicks. He returned on Mar. 22 and played five games before the same issue ended his season for good the following month.
Paul addressed Watson’s absence from Denver’s first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves on “The Game Over” podcast Friday.
“He didn’t play in the playoffs. He was dealing with a hamstring injury, a soft tissue injury. And when you’re dealing with those injuries, you have to be very careful. Guys wanna play. You have to protect them from themselves,” the Klutch Sports CEO said.
Paul also indicated that Watson wanted to play, but said it was “very important to protect that.” That explanation did not exactly go over well with Nuggets supporters.
“Absolutely [expletive] disgraceful,” a diehard Nuggets fan wrote.
“Woof this is frustrating, I get it, but it’s frustrating,”SportsShorts posted.
“This seemed very obvious at the time. Completely understandable from Rich Paul and Peyton Watson’s business perspective. Completely understandable for Nuggets fans to be furious about it,” Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey added.
“There’s a difference between returning at 100% and 75%… and the Nuggets took this risk when they didn’t sign him. I don’t blame Peyton for securing whatever he thought, yet I would argue he had more to gain by playing,” Denver sports analyst Jake Shapiro reacted.
“Should’ve kept that to himself. Payton wanted to play but was advised not to. Watson had nothing to gain out of that statement. Now Nugget fans feeling some type of way about Payton Watson, which isn’t fair to him. This is why agents shouldn’t have a podcast,” an NBA observer tweeted.
According to the Denver Post in April, the Nuggets expected Watson to play at least one of their remaining five regular-season games, a scenario that never came to pass.
Even without their blossoming two-way star, Denver finished the season on a 12-game win streak, going 54-28 and earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
However, Watson’s absence became much harder to overlook once the playoffs began.
Denver faced a Minnesota team that was also dealing with injuries to several key perimeter players, yet the Timberwolves stole home-court advantage and won the first-round series 4-2. Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels even took a shot at the Nuggets, saying Denver had no elite defender capable of slowing down his injury-hampered team.
Watson was arguably Denver’s best perimeter defender. Whether his presence would have turned the tables in the series is a plausible argument, but his absence certainly left the Nuggets without their best matchup against Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards.
That is what makes Paul’s comments sting for Denver fans.
Watson’s injury was legitimate, and keeping him out to avoid further damage was a reasonable call. Still, with Denver’s season on the line, it’s easy to see why fans are frustrated after learning that Watson wanted to play but was held back with his long-term health in mind.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
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