NEW ORLEANS — Mom’s photos will have to suffice as keepsakes from a career night.
Instead of the game ball, Peyton Watson was rewarded for his 32 points with family time and New Orleans cuisine.
The ball was snatched by a referee before Watson had a chance to take it with him. No souvenirs, then. He wasn’t too worried about it.
“I’ll always have the memories,” he said in the visiting locker room.
“The pictures my mom took tonight. My family being here in attendance, that means the world to me, and that’s all I need.”
The Watsons were in New Orleans, all the way from Los Angeles, as Peyton started his third consecutive game Wednesday. He’s filling in for the injured Christian Braun in Denver’s starting lineup, likely through Christmas or longer. It’s a substantial opportunity in a contract year.
But Watson knows his defense was the reason his shoulder was tapped. He didn’t arrive in New Orleans expecting a night like this. A night so instantly sentimental, so rewarding.
He didn’t expect 32 points, or 12 rebounds, or 13-for-19 shooting. All career-highs.
“I knew there was gonna be a need for me to kind of increase my offensive load a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t have any idea that I was gonna have 30.”
With Braun and Aaron Gordon both out of the lineup, Watson offered up a thrilling reminder of the offensive talent that has materialized in fleeting glimpses since 2022, when the Nuggets drafted him 30th overall. In his first three NBA seasons, he recorded two 20-point games. He didn’t make it to 25 either time. His highlights usually involve a shot attempt by an opponent — destined for rejection.
Offense hasn’t come as naturally to him. He’s still young. Still streaky. Still figuring out his ideal spots on the floor.
In New Orleans, the slow progress was palpable. He devoured his corner 3-point opportunities when the Pelicans helped off of him in a 5-for-9 showing. He slashed with the ball and cut without it.
He reached 30 by identifying a cozy bit of space in the lane to halt one of his cuts, calmly sinking a 12-foot jumper. He punctuated his scoring output by slipping to the basket and hammering a dunk out of Denver’s split game, courtesy of a behind-the-back pass from Nikola Jokic.
It was chameleonic enough to pass as Braun or Gordon.
“Especially in the splits,” Jokic said, “he found himself open.”
“Tonight was Peyton’s night,” coach David Adelman said. “He did a great job. He scored behind the defense with dunks and in transition. He was very efficient from three, finding the open spots by being spaced properly, which you always get rewarded if you do that.”
The Pelicans invited Watson to shoot. He doesn’t have enough of a reputation yet to demand respect, even in the corners, where he shot 44.7% on 76 attempts last season. Once he settled in there, he heated up in New Orleans. His early above-the-break attempts fed into the defense’s hands.
“I went to him,” Bruce Brown said. “I was like, ‘Look, they’re gonna give you 10 (attempts). I know you’re gonna hit four or five of them. So keep shooting.’ That’s what he did.”
Watson also received words of encouragement from assistant coach Mike Moser and from Gordon, who was watching the game in street clothes from the end of Denver’s bench. After missing four consecutive field goal attempts to finish the first quarter, the young wing shot 11 of 13 in the last three.
One of the most jarring and exciting sensations Brown has experienced this season, after two years away from Denver, has been the whiplash of seeing his young teammates in a new light. Braun and Watson were unproven rookies the first time Brown was a Nugget. Watson was splitting his time between Denver and the G League in Grand Rapids. Now Braun is an everyday starter, and Watson is his injury replacement.
“Very different,” Brown said. “More aggressive, a lot smarter. You can tell he’s been in the league for multiple years. … This should be a big year for him.”
It’s already been a solid start defensively. With restricted free agency on the horizon next summer, these six weeks could be a critical proving ground for Watson on the other side of the ball. But when asked about his approach to the starting job on Wednesday, he tried to keep the situation in perspective.
“I think just doing anything necessary to get a win. Sometimes it’s scoring. Some nights it’s on the defensive end. I feel like my defense should have been better tonight,” Watson said. “I feel like there were some things I definitely could have done better and brought more intensity. So I’m looking to get better at those things for the next game. But I feel like actually every night has to be a defensive night for me, just because of what I bring to this team, and the energy needed on that end.”
Then he was off to dinner with his parents — with dad, who drove him across Los Angeles once so that he could play in a pickup game that Kevin Durant had invited him to attend, and with mom, who traveled across the country to capture the glee on his face that a box score or game ball could not.