With limited cap space and several holes in the rotation to fill, second-year forwards Peyton Watson and Christian Braun could be huge for the Nuggets.
With Bruce Brown and Jeff Green possibly leaving this offseason, the Nuggets could need a find a way to replace these key role players' minutes. Denver doesn't have a lot of options with them being over the tax. They could look to trade the picks that they acquired with the Thunder for a rookie this season. But the development of second-year wings Christian Braun and Peyton Watson can be another answer.
Jeff Green was a solid backup for the Nuggets during their championship run. He is a veteran player who doesn't need to make generational money anymore. Therefore he may decide to forgo another mid-level exception contract for a team with cap space in order to stay with Denver during their title defense. Still, at the end of the day, Green is an aging veteran and his productivity can't be relied on. Brown could return to the team but it is unlikely due to salary cap concerns.
What can Christian Braun and Peyton Watson give the Nuggets next season?
Braun will not be as good of a defender as Brown was and he doesn't have the on-ball creation of spot-up shooting that helped the Nuggets so much. But he looks to be a defensive positive and was very good at creating offense off secondary cuts to the baskets.
Across the regular season, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per 36 minutes, shooting 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, numbers that he was able to replicate in the playoffs when he was given an opportunity. He can contribute at both ends, even if it's not in the same ways Brown did.
Peyton Watson is more of a guy who we will be talking about in hypotheticals. Watson didn't really get much run for the Nuggets this season which makes it a bit harder to see how he could help this team next season. He only played in 23 games in his rookie season, averaging eight minutes per game.
The good news for Denver is that when Watson played in the G-league this season, he excelled — averaging 22.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 blocks per game. He's an athletic versatile forward with playmaking upside and the Nuggets are very high on him. Although he may play fewer minutes for Denver than Braun, he could flourish on the offensive end as a floor spacer and secondary creator.
With the way the new luxury tax rules are created, it is super advantageous to be under the second tax apron. Due to those reasons, the Nuggets will have to look to their young players on rookie contracts and the draft to replace spots on the bench. How these players perform off the bench will be the difference between whether Denver is able to make multiple finals or just be a one-hit-wonder.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.