What a joyous feeling it is to see your old bully becoming less terrifying with every passing day. That is how one would imagine the Los Angeles Lakers feel watching the Denver Nuggets amid a turbulent offseason. No, signing DeMar DeRozan is not going to fix that.
The Nuggets were forced into a no-win scenario when the Oklahoma City Thunder gave Spencer Jones an offer sheet. Denver matched, and Peyton Watson got squeezed out. Instead of fully embracing life as a second apron team, they decided to recoup draft capital instead amid a win-now window with Nikola Jokic. Watson joined the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It really was a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation for the Nuggets. They would have been spending big on an underwhelming roster by paying up for Watson, but they at least could have maintained a team they could talk themselves into being viable, health permitting.
Instead, Watson got his walking papers and DeRozan was how they scrambled to recover. It was a mediocre bounce-back. Quite frankly, you can hardly call it that at all. DeMar's fit in Denver is questionable. No other West contender, the Lakers included, is really losing sleep over this one.
Nuggets have made themselves expensive and mid
If you are going to be over the second apron, which the Nuggets are, at least have a team you can sell yourself on being worth that salary bill. Denver cut costs and shrunk their threat levels in the process.
On the surface, DeRozan still has the counting stats of a positive player. DeMar averaged 18.4 points and 4.1 assists per game in 2025-26, shooting 49.7 percent from the field.
For the Nuggets, DeRozan should get considerable command over the second unit. Perhaps that has some upside. The downsides here are just as relevant.
Denver was already a unit that struggled defensively, especially whenever Aaron Gordon missed time. DeRozan, who is a poor defender, does nothing to help them improve. It only gets contextualized in a worse lens when considering the Nuggets are swapping out one of their positive players on that end in Watson with the trade-off.
DeRozan's lack of spacing remains constantly relevant regarding his potential fit anywhere. How much value does the aging contributor have when the ball is not in his hands?
There is also the fact of the lowly Sacramento Kings somehow being better in DeRozan's minutes off the court than on the court last season. That includes being noticeably better (albeit still bad) on the defensive end.
Chris Haynes reported: "DeMar DeRozan has been in conversations with Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray and is anxious for the opportunity to play for a contending team, sources say."
One has to wonder how close the Nuggets truly are to being a contender in 2026-27. Having a player of Jokic's caliber always gives you a fighting chance. However, the better teams in the West, including the Lakers, will not be too concerned seeing the Nuggets on the schedule in the upcoming campaign.
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