“See you in Brooklyn soon”: MPJ recruits Peyton Watson

The Denver Nuggets “top offseason priority” will not be a quiet one.

Days after a report from NBA reporter Jake Fischer pegged retaining restricted free agent Peyton Watson as the Nuggets’ No. 1 task this summer, one of the team’s most prominent ex-employees jumped on Instagram to publicly recruit him.

“See you in Brooklyn soon man,” Michael Porter Jr. wrote in a comment on Watson’s Instagram post over the weekend.

Porter, of course, was sent from Denver to Brooklyn last summer in the trade that brought Cameron Johnson to the Mile High City. The deal was controversial then and looks worse now, with Johnson hitting free agency next offseason after a single up-and-down season in Denver. Porter, meanwhile, is suddenly in position to be the lead recruiter for a Nets team flush with cap space and clearly interested in his former teammate.

The Nets enter the summer with nearly $45 million in cap space, per Clutch Points. The second apron is projected at $222 million. The Nuggets already have $204 million committed to nine players. The math is brutal: if Brooklyn comes in with a significant offer sheet — and league personnel have speculated Watson’s next contract could surpass $25 million annually — Denver would have to offload one of Aaron Gordon ($32 million), Johnson ($23 million) or Christian Braun ($21.5 million) just to match.

That’s the squeeze. nd Porter — leading a Brooklyn roster that needs help, riding a friendship with Watson that’s been on full display this season — could make things tougher for the Nuggets.

The chemistry between the two is well documented. Porter sat courtside in January when Watson dropped 31 against the New Orleans Pelicans during a hot stretch with Nikola Jokic sidelined. Watson, asked about Porter postgame: “That’s my dog. Love him.”

Now Porter wants his buddy in Brooklyn.

The Nets are one of three teams with the cap space to push the Nuggets to the brink. The Chicago Bulls ($58 million) and Los Angeles Lakers ($48 million) are the other two. All three registered trade interest in Watson before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, per Fischer’s earlier reporting. Marc Stein previously identified the Lakers, Bulls and Nets as the suitors most likely to “cause angst in the Rocky Mountains.”

Watson, 23, averaged a career-high 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 54 games this season, shooting 49.1% from the field and 41.1% from 3-point range. He’s the kind of two-way wing every contender wants and every rebuilding team — Brooklyn included — would love to build around for the next several years

Whether the Nets share Porter’s interest enough to actually fire off a big offer sheet remains to be seen. But Denver’s offseason is going to be loud. And the player who was hurt while the Nuggets’ flamed out in the first round is one of the most talked-about free agents this summer.

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