Can rookie Peyton Watson crack Nuggets’ postseason plans?

Steph Curry had Jamal Murray in his hip pocket, beat by a step as he elevated to lay in a finger roll with 2 minutes, 35 seconds to go Sunday night in Denver.

The Nuggets had a small lineup on the floor and once Curry got into the lane, he saw nothing but the orange rim and an easy bucket in front of him.

Peyton Watson had other ideas. He dropped down from the top of the key, timed his leap and spiked the ball off the backboard, blocking Curry’s shot for the third and most emphatic time in Denver’s’ 112-110 victory over the Warriors.

The rejection, like Watson’s coming out party over Denver’s past two games, arrived loudly. And out of nowhere.

And it comes with an additional question attached: Is the rookie playing his way from a developmental project into a postseason role for coach Michael Malone?

“It’s to be decided,” Watson said after he scored eight points, blocked three shots and pulled down five rebounds in 20 minutes, 27 seconds of work against the Warriors. “But I have the confidence in myself that no matter what I’m called, no matter what’s asked of me, I feel like I can carry that out and that’s what I’m going to do.”

A week ago, the Nuggets weren’t asking much of Watson. He averaged three minutes of mostly mop-up duty over 17 appearances before logging 27 minutes that Malone called “really fun to watch” for a shorthanded group in Phoenix on Friday.

Sunday night, Watson played the entire fourth quarter, trusted by Malone as part of the group to close out the defending world champions.

“You can’t talk about being in those situations, you have to be in them to learn and grow,” said Malone, who added that he found himself smiling late in the game watching Watson and fellow rookie Christian Braun work against the Warriors’ dynastic trio of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. “I think our guys benefited from it.”

Denver just might, too, if Malone decides he needs to find a role for Watson when the calendar turns to postseason play. That could be working on the second unit with Braun or serving as a spot defensive option if teams try to play small ball like the Warriors did Sunday.

“I look at them as guys that have to be ready for the playoffs and we have to get them ready for the playoffs,” Murray said. “So when they’re in those big moments and high energy and we’re relying on them to guard Steph Curry and Thompson, those are big moments. I thought they did a great job the whole game.”

Braun’s been staking his claim as a contributor for some time, but Watson had to wait his turn. The No. 30 pick in the 2022 draft arrived as something of an unknown after playing 13 minutes per game off the bench for UCLA last year. He spent time this season in Grand Rapids, Michigan, playing in the G-League.

All along, though, Malone heard positive reviews of the 6-foot-8, 200-pound wing.

“I said to him about a week ago, all the reports we got from Grand Rapids, all the reports I get from our player development coaches, our strength coach Felipe (Eichenberger), our training staff has all remarked at different times how much better Peyton’s got this year,” Malone said. “What does that mean? He’s gotten better as a player, he’s got stronger, he’s becoming more mature, understanding what it means to be a pro every single day.

“What he did in Phoenix gave him a ton of confidence to go out and play tonight. They were going to play a ton of small ball. We were switching everything on the ball and off the ball and you saw Peyton’s length and athleticism on full display.”

Watson opened his night with a put-back dunk in the second quarter, then added two more emphatic finishes in the fourth quarter to go along with his three blocks on Curry. A two-handed slam in transition put the Nuggets up 11 in the fourth quarter and forced a timeout, giving the rookie a moment to revel in the jolt he sent through Ball Arena.

“Yeah, it was definitely a different point of view, for sure,” he said of his starring role. “But I was ready and I was locked in and I wasn’t thinking about anything else but winning the game.”

This is all happening fast for Watson. On a team that’s now within a game of locking up the Western Conference’s top seed, his role could further expand or these two games could end up being the peak for him.

But in the midst of trying to make his mark, it’s impossible to not also take a moment to enjoy the moment. Watson calls Suns star Kevin Durant his “idol,” and the pair have a tight relationship. So to not only play those minutes opposite Durant in Phoenix but chase him hard off a screen and then disrupt a turnaround jumper? That “meant a lot to me,” Watson said.

Two days later, Watson found himself switching between Curry, Thompson and Jordan Poole, acing another test in front of a coach who’s tasked with charting the course toward a championship.

Waston is hoping for more assignments in the coming weeks.

“This is a big responsibility that coach is trusting me with,” he said. “I’m grateful for it all and I’m going to continue to work. I’m not satisfied.”

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