What Does DeMar DeRozan Change for the Nuggets?

Clock under eight. Jokic has already thrown the pocket pass. Murray is covered. The switch is sitting on the three, waiting for the kick. Somebody has to walk that midrange and get a bucket anyway. That somebody is why Denver took DeMar DeRozan on a reported one-year, $3.9 million deal Friday.

Photo: NBA.com. Official league headshot.

A 37-year-old midrange closer just walked into the best offense in basketball. That is not the same thing as filling the hole Peyton Watson left.

The dollars are the 10-plus-year veteran minimum, rounded. Bleacher Report had Chris Haynes of NBA on Prime on the agreement and Shams Charania of ESPN on $3.9 million. Hoops Rumors lists that minimum at $3,876,529. Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints had Denver signing the six-time All-Star on Friday, after the Watson sign-and-trade. The Nuggets have not posted an official release. Until they do, you are looking at a reported minimum.

Now look at what he actually does next to Jokic.

Last season in Sacramento, DeRozan started all 77 games he played and averaged 18.4 points, 4.1 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in 31.2 minutes. He shot 49.7 percent from the field, 32.0 percent from three on 1.9 attempts, 86.8 percent from the line. Basketball-Reference and NBA.com both have it. You are not adding a spacer. You are adding a guy who can punish a switch without needing the three to fall.

Jokic just put up 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists in 65 games and finished second in MVP voting. Murray went 25.4 and 7.1 in 75 games, All-NBA third team. Basketball-Reference's 2025-26 Nuggets page is where those numbers live. Those two already generate the shot. DeRozan is the extra closer when the Jokic-Murray action gets jammed. A second isolation scorer. A 4.1-assist veteran who can run a bench unit when Murray sits. Availability ESPN already flagged when the Kings cut him: 70-plus games in each of the last five seasons. Haynes, via BBall Rumors, said DeRozan had been in conversations with Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon. The core is still the core. He is walking into it, not past it.

Here is the basketball that matters: he changes the late clock next to Jokic, and he does not replace Peyton Watson. If you are folding those into one transaction, you are watching a different sport.

He does not become Watson. Watson just signed a four-year, $88 million deal with Cleveland in a five-team sign-and-trade the Nuggets announced Friday. ESPN and NBA.com have the skeleton: unprotected 2031 first and a 2032 Kings second back to Denver, Max Strus to the Clippers, Hornets and Wizards folded in. Watson, 23, averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 41.1 percent from three in 54 games last year, 40 of them starts. Since 2022-23 he ranks second in field-goal percentage allowed as the contesting defender among players to contest at least 2,000 shots, ESPN Research said. DeRozan is 6-foot-6, 37 as of Aug. 7, and he is not that wing. He will not give Denver the length, the contest, or the 41 percent from three. He will not make them younger.

He does not fix the side of the floor that already leaked. Denver finished 54-28, first in offensive rating at 122.6, 21st in defensive rating at 117.4, then lost the first round 2-4 to Minnesota. Adding an 18-point midrange specialist to the No. 1 offense is a luxury. Subtracting the young 3-and-D wing from a 21st-ranked defense is a choice. Cameron Johnson is still here — 12.2 points, 43.0 percent from three, every one of his 54 games a start — and that is the spacing DeRozan will not bring. CBS Sports still has Johnson in Denver after the Watson trade. Gordon is still here. Braun is still here. The Jokic-Murray-Gordon spine did not move. The apron did not move either. ESPN had Denver $1.3 million over the second apron before this deal. A veteran minimum counts cheaper than it pays, but it does not open a new exception. It does not buy back Watson.

The Kings waived him on July 6, 2026. The club posted the goodbye the same day. ESPN had the cap math: $25.7 million on the books, only $10 million guaranteed, a rebuild that needed the room. Two years in Sacramento. Seventeen seasons. Six All-Star nods, three All-NBA teams, zero titles. Basketball-Reference has the career at 21.1 points and the ring count at none. He is not coming to Denver to change who the Nuggets are. He is coming because the market closed on exception money and the one roster that still had Jokic could only write a minimum check.

Do not confuse a closer with a wing. One year. Reported $3.9 million. Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. He changes how Denver scores when the action dies. He does not change the defender, the spacing, or the age they just traded to Cleveland.

Sources

• Bleacher Report — Haynes on the agreement; Charania on one-year, $3.9 million; July 6 waiver; $25.7 million Kings number; $1.3 million over the second apron (Bobby Marks).
• BBall Rumors — Siegel/ClutchPoints: Nuggets signing DeRozan, Aug. 21; Haynes: talks with Jokic, Murray, Gordon.
• Hoops Rumors — 10+ veteran minimum $3,876,529 for 2026-27.
• ESPN — Kings announce waiver July 6; six-time All-Star; 18.4 points; 70-plus games each of last five seasons.
• ESPN — Watson four-year, $88 million; five-team deal; 14.6 / 4.9 / 2.1 / 0.9; 41.1 percent from three; 40 starts; contesting-defender rank; Denver $1.3 million over second apron.
• NBA.com — Watson to Cavs; Strus to Clippers; 2031 first and 2032 Kings second to Denver.
• Basketball-Reference — born Aug. 7, 1989 (age 37); 2025-26: 77/77, 31.2 MPG, 18.4 / 4.1 / 2.9, .497 / .320 / .868; 6x All-Star, 3x All-NBA; 0 championships; career 21.1 PPG.
• Basketball-Reference — Nuggets 54-28; OffRtg 122.6 (1st); DefRtg 117.4 (21st); lost first round 2-4 to Minnesota; Jokic 27.7 / 12.9 / 10.7; Murray 25.4 / 7.1; Johnson 12.2, .430 3P, 54 starts; Watson 14.6 / 4.9 / 2.1 / 1.1 blk, .411 3P; Gordon, Braun still on 2025-26 roster.
• NBA.com — official headshot; 18.4 / 2.9 / 4.1; born August 7, 1989.
• CBS Sports — Johnson still in Denver after the Watson trade; 12.2 / 3.8, 43.0 percent from three, 54 starts.