The Denver Nuggets’ injury carousel appears to have finally stopped.
Peyton Watson is expected to return Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers, ending a six-week absence that has tested the patience of a Denver team desperate for reinforcements down the stretch, according to ESPN.
The timing couldn’t be better for a Nuggets squad fighting for playoff seeding with 11 games remaining on the regular season schedule. Watson’s return represents the final major piece of a rotation that has been decimated since November. Watson’s February injury was just the last in a long line of guys missing time. The breakout forward has been dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him all of this time.
Watson has had a career year in Denver, averaging 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2 assists and 30.7 minutes per game while shooting 50% from the field and 42 from three-point range — all career highs. His emergence as a dependable scoring option became especially critical when injuries ravaged the Nuggets’ rotation. He stepped up to star alongside Jamal Murray during a January stretch without Nikola Jokic, Cameron Johnson, and mostly without Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon.
The timing matters. With Gordon, Braun and Johnson back on the court and now Watson expected to rejoin the lineup, the Nuggets will be fully healthy for the first time since Nov. 12. That is the last time the starting five and Watson, the team’s de facto sixth man, played in the same game.
Whether Watson slots back into the starting lineup or comes off the bench remains to be seen. Cameron Johnson’s inconsistent play and Christian Braun’s struggles as he’s dealt with an ankle injury that seems to have affected his athleticism has forced David Adelman into some choices. That is, if Watson looks like the guy he did in January, who had three 30-point game that month.
On the individual side, this is a big deal for Watson. He is a restricted free agent this summer and if he can again remind the league of the player he’s blossomed into this season, he’ll be monetarily rewarded in a few months.
There’s now an 11-game runway to end the season for the Nuggets where they can actually show themselves and the world who they are. If it’s anything like the first 11 games of the season before everyone got hurt when the team went 9-2, Denver will be considered a championship contender once more as the playoffs tip off in less than a month.
