On his podcast, Green looked at what Denver received for Peyton Watson and saw a front office protecting its future.
Draymond Green, who re-signed with Golden State earlier this summer, has lived through enough cap crunches to recognize a forced decision, and he does not believe the Denver Nuggets botched theirs.
On Wednesday's episode of The Draymond Green Show, Green walked through the five-team sign-and-trade that sent Peyton Watson to Cleveland and argued Denver came away with real value, pointing to the draft pick coming back as the piece that makes the whole deal defensible.
Why Green Likes Denver's Return
The Cavaliers announced the trade on August 21, with Watson landing a four-year, $88 million contract that includes a player option and a trade kicker, per Shams Charania of ESPN.
Denver's return centered on Cleveland's 2031 first-round pick along with a 2032 second-rounder, plus two-way player Julian Reese, who the Nuggets intend to waive per Charania's reporting.
That distant first-rounder is what Green kept coming back to, calling it "an incredible asset" for the Nuggets.
His reasoning was about Cleveland's long-term books.
Green's belief is that Donovan Mitchell's contract runs deep into the decade, nobody can be certain what that roster looks like by 2031, and a distant pick from a team with that much future uncertainty is exactly the sort Denver should want.
Green also said the choice, as ESPN's Brian Windhorst had framed it, effectively came down to Watson or Cameron Johnson, and with the second apron bearing down, Denver could not pay both.
He closed the segment by congratulating Watson on the payday and recalling how much he liked his game going back to his pre-draft workout.
What Denver Actually Lost
None of that makes Watson easy to replace.
He averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 54 games last season while shooting 41.1 percent from three, a leap that had him trending toward the best version of himself before a hamstring injury cut his year short.
The Nuggets went 54-28 and finished third in the Western Conference before Minnesota ended their season in the first round, so losing a young starter from that group is not nothing.
Michael Porter Jr. even pointed at an earlier departure this week when discussing where things slipped.
The counter, laid out this week, is that the core remains strong enough to stay near the top of the West regardless.
The Bet Denver Is Making
Denver has already moved on the replacement front, agreeing to a one-year deal with DeMar DeRozan, per ESPN, after the six-time All-Star spent the past two seasons in Sacramento and was waived by the Kings in July.
Fans have already argued for one more addition on top of that before camps open September 29.
Green's broader point here holds either way.
A team squeezed by the apron traded a player it could not afford to keep and turned him into a pick it can use down the line, and the Nuggets open October 22 in Oklahoma City with their title window still built around the stars.
Whether the 2031 pick becomes a player worth this argument will take years to learn.
