Throughout the 2025-26 season and into the offseason, Denver Nuggets forward Peyton Watson was consistently linked to the Los Angeles Lakers. The 23-year-old was set to hit restricted free agency, and with the Lakers having cap space and needing a 3-and-D wing, Watson felt like the perfect fit.
Instead, Rob Pelinka decided to pursue other avenues. Now, he may actually be looking to recreate what Watson could’ve provided LA with two players. That could be done with Jonathan Kuminga and Quentin Grimes.
Jonathan Kuminga and Quentin Grimes could add up to a Peyton Watson
Obviously, the headliner of LA’s free agent additions was Walker Kessler. Outside of him, the next biggest name was Grimes.
The 26-year-old wing has bounced between a few teams in his short NBA career but has always provided stable 3-point shooting and solid defense. Now, he and Watson are completely different players.
Grimes is 6-foot-4. Watson is a long 6-foot-8. Someone who fits Watson’s physical profile more than Grimes is Jonathan Kuminga. The free agent forward has been heavily linked to the Lakers.
If Kuminga were to sign with the Lakers, his defense, size, and finishing ability paired with Grimes shooting could see LA Frankenstein their own version of Watson.
Is Rob Pelinka using the "Moneyball" strategy to recreate Peyton Watson?
If you’re anything like me, the coolest job in sports isn’t being a player; it’s being a general manager.
The idea of working in a front office has always been a dream of mine, and one of the things that started that dream was the movie Moneyball. If you aren’t familiar, Moneyball is a film that stars Brad Pitt and is loosely based on the 2002 Oakland Athletics.
In the movie, the A’s can’t afford their star player, Jason Giambi, and are forced to pivot. Instead of trying to replace Giambi directly, they decide to sign three players that, when added together, they believe can recreate their former star's production.
That’s how I view Kuminga and Grimes potentially providing the same production Watson could’ve. Obviously, Pelinka can’t fuse the two players into one super player. But both players can affect certain categories and provide the same impact on the margins that, from a numbers standpoint, Watson could have.
Last season, Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.0 stocks (steals plus blocks) while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor, 41.1 percent from deep.
For his career, Grimes is a 36.6 percent 3-point shooter on higher volume than Watson, to go along with 11.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 stocks. Kuminga, for his career, averages 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1 stock while shooting 50 percent from the field.
When you project Grimes and Kuminga into next season's Lakers rotation, it is easy to see how their combination of athleticism, defense and shooting could replicate much of what made Watson a top target for the Lakers.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in on Watson, and there might not be a bigger fan of his on the internet. However, for the role he was going to play in LA, Pelinka is much better suited to stretching the money that would've gone to Watson across Grimes and potentially Kuminga. In the aggregate, they can provide many of the same qualities that originally drew fans to Watson.
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