The Bucks may not be able to land Peyton Watson.
The Milwaukee Bucks have had a productive offseason so far, completely transforming their roster via the trade of Giannis Antetokounmpo for a massive haul from the Miami Heat along with two productive draft picks in Nate Ament and Brayden Burries.
But there is one glaring deficit in the roster that remains which that is the need for another forward, whether that be a power forward or a small forward and looking at the free agency market as it is, there are two main candidates they could target.
The two most prominent forward still available are Peyton Watson and Jonathan Kuminga, but the Bucks are going to have some stiff competition when it comes to landing Watson specifically.
The Bucks are relative latecomers to the sweepstakes for the standout wing who impressed with the Denver Nuggets this past season, but considering the assets available to the Bucks and the cap space they have left, they do stand out as prominent candidates for him.
The Nuggets Are Serious
However, that means that they have to contend with the Denver Nuggets primarily since Watson is a restricted free agent that gives the Nuggets an advantage when it comes to negotiating a deal for him compared to other perspective, teams like the books and like the Los Angeles Clippers, who are another team heavily linked to Watson.
The Nuggets made it clear at the beginning of the offseason that Watson was going to be their primary target in free agency and while they haven’t put together a deal for him at this point, it doesn’t seem like that priority has changed at all.
Multiple reports have stated that the Nuggets are willing to match any offer that Watson receives and free agency which could be anywhere from $25-$30 million and even if the bucks make a strong case to lend him, the nuggets could could still keep themselves in the running, which a recent report from Tony Jones seems to back up.
“The Nuggets, according to those league sources, value Peyton Watson significantly. They feel they are in a good spot to retain his services and just need to let the restricted-free-agency process play out," Tony Jones wrote (via NBABase).
Can the Bucks Keep Up?
The Nuggets delay in signing Watson seems to simply be a matter of due diligence by Denver in assessing the market and getting the full scope of the offer that Watson will demand and with the Nuggets having a relatively inactive offseason in total, that only seems to affirm how serious pursuing Watson is for them.
That obviously is an issue for the Bucks and could make their pursuit Watson all the more difficult.
The question now is if they will remain committed to their own pursuit of him or try and pivot elsewhere to address their lingering roster need of a forward.
