The Denver Nuggets' attempted pursuit of Peyton Watson was the team's priority entering into the offseason, but things don't work out as they're planned. 

After weeks of back and forth, with speculation abounding about whether or not the Nuggets would be able to land Watson, who had a breakout year in the 2025-26 season when injuries to the heavy hitters on the roster left the door open for Watson to get significant minutes, they ultimately settled on a sign-and-trade deal that sent Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers instead. 

After that deal was made, it would be easy to call the Nuggets' offseason a failure that didn't warrant many meaningful gains. After all, the Nuggets had developed Watson and seen him grow into exactly the kind of player that they needed to help them stay on top of the Western Conference, but they had to settle with parting ways with him, partly for financial reasons. 

But despite the loss, the Nuggets moved on. Soon after the Watson trade was done, Denver pivoted to signing veteran DeMar DeRozan to fill the gap in the roster left by Watson, a move Denver had apparently been planning for and one that sacrificed the promise of youth for the assurance of experience. 

With Watson gone, there isn't much use in the Nuggets dwelling on their loss, a sentiment echoed by Denver assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic in a recent interview with Basketball Network. 

"We can be sad about that or we can be like, okay, it is what it is and we’re going to do next step and do whatever is necessary to rebuild us and to find the right way and the right direction to win [a] championship.”

That pursuit of a championship won't be easy for Denver. As the Western Conference around them has continued to improve with the Eastern Conference not far behind, the Nuggets lost several of their key pieces. 

On top of Watson, the Nuggets also lost Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas, with Bruce Brown still a free agent. Including Watson, all four were key aspects of the Denver bench and without them the Nuggets find themselves critically in need of depth.

The business of the NBA is all about pivoting when moves fall through and while the Nuggets have made attempts to pivot, the corresponding moves they've made don't exactly instill confidence in the team. 

But they still have a wealth of talent with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray leading the way and should the Nuggets have health on their side this season, the existing core does have the tools to lead them to success. 

That success would be more assured with Watson on the roster of course, but Stojakovic and the rest of the staff have seemingly made peace with the situation and are looking to move forward to the best of their abilities.