Nuggets Now Safe From Lakers' Potential Peyton Watson Pursuit
Nuggets Now Safe From Lakers' Potential Peyton Watson Pursuit
Don't worry, Peyton Watson won't be making his way to the Los Angeles Lakers any time soon.Jared Koch|
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Los Angeles LakersDenver NuggetsHeading into this year's free agency, the Denver Nuggets have had a few threats to keep an eye on when it comes to their restricted free agent forward, Peyton Watson.
Without being able to strike a deal on a new contract before free agency got rolling, it's led to Watson now hitting the open market with the ability to look for offer sheets elsewhere. And there's a chance that the right offer sheet, if steep enough, could scare the Nuggets away from matching.
One of those premier threats on the market that had the money to make that happen was the Los Angeles Lakers.
After the news dropped surrounding LeBron James deciding to enter free agency and not return to Los Angeles, it meant that the Lakers were going to enter the open market with over $50 million in free money to spend. That, of course, presented enough flexibility for them to approach Watson with a lucrative offer, if they indeed had interest in bringing him onboard.
But as of Wednesday, that flexibility that they once had is now gone.
Lakers' Ability to Poach Peyton Watson From Nuggets Is No More
Within about a 30-minute span, the Lakers' wave of free agent moves all came in at once, both in the form of multiple signings and a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz for Walker Kessler. And in doing so, it now saps up essentially all of the cap flexibility that they once had to go after a guy like Watson.
The Lakers paid Kessler a lucrative four-year deal worth $160 million, a four-year, $60 million contract for Quentin Grimes, spent $19 million on two years of Collin Sexton, and $52 million over four years for Sandro Mamukelashvili.
When sorting through the AAV of all four of those contracts, that's a total of $70 million––which likely comes out a bit differently depending on whether or not they're front or back-loaded, but does tend to fill out most of their roster with all of the monetary flexibility they previously had.
From a Nuggets' perspective, that's great news. Their biggest threat, who had the money to make a competitive offer for Watson, and had (and still does have) a need for a two-way wing like him, is now gone in an instant.
That means the chances of Denver simply re-upping with their restricted free agent with a new deal rather than having to go the route of matching an offer sheet increase exponentially.
Denver's other two big threats with cap space–– the Brookyn Nets and Chicago Bulls–– have also spent their money in different ways across the last several hours of free agency as well. The Nets have used theirs on Keon Ellis and Mo Wagner, while the Bulls spent big on a $45 million deal for Norman Powell.
Now, the Nuggets still do have to come to an agreement for Watson in the days ahead. How much money he gets on his next deal, and when that might come, is still up in the air.
Regardless, their top threats, and most importantly, the Los Angeles Lakers, are now off the board, thus making the road for a new deal to soon be on the way for Denver much easier to imagine.
Published 3 minutes ago
JARED KOCHJared Koch is a sportswriter and editor covering the NFL and NBA for the On SI network since 2023.
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Jaylen Brown traded to 76ers: Celtics star heading to Philadelphia for Paul George, draft picks, per report
The Boston Celtics are trading Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, according to ESPN.
The stunning deal marks the end of Brown's enormously successful 10-season run in Boston. The No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft made five All-Star teams with the Celtics. He averaged at least 20 points for seven consecutive seasons, took the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals six times, the NBA Finals twice, and won Finals MVP as Boston won its 18th NBA championship in 2024. Now, he will continue his career in a rival city alongside a core of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
Brown played alongside Jayson Tatum since Boston drafted the latter in 2017, but rumors about the Celtics splitting up the pair were common for practically their entire run. The Celtics were linked to a number of superstars like Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant over the years, but never pulled the trigger on a Brown trade during his joint ascent with Tatum. The Celtics were rewarded for that faith with the 2024 title, but things slowly broke down from there.
Tatum tore his Achilles during Boston's title defense in 2025, and he missed most of the 2025-26 season. Brown had the best statistical season of his career in leading the Celtics to 56 wins, but Boston lost Game 7 of its first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers with Tatum out. That series exposed holes in Boston's roster that would be hard to address with both Tatum and Brown earning supermax salaries in this enormously restrictive CBA environment.
Brown responded by venting on Twitch after the Celtics were eliminated, claiming the NBA had an agenda against him. Perhaps just as notably, he called this season his "favorite year" of his basketball career rather than the 2024 title season. The Celtics, meanwhile, spent most of June negotiating a trade of Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo. When Antetokounmpo was ultimately dealt to the Miami Heat, Boston elected to move on from Brown anyway and send him to Philadelphia in a shocker.
Add CBS Sports on GoogleWoman found fatally shot in neck inside NYC home in apparent domestic incident
Woman, 24, found fatally shot in neck inside NYC home in apparent domestic incident: cops, sources- US News
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Skip to main content MetroWoman found fatally shot in neck inside NYC home in apparent domestic incident
By Amanda Woods Published July 1, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleA 24-year-old woman was found fatally shot in the neck inside her Brooklyn home late Tuesday in what appears to be a domestic incident, police and law enforcement sources said.
Tatiana Pettus was discovered with a mortal gunshot wound to the neck inside a bedroom when police responded to a 911 call around 11:25 p.m. at her apartment building on Foster Avenue near East 29th Street in Flatbush, according to cops and sources.
She was taken to the Kings County Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
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The relationship between Pettus and the still-at-large killer remained unclear Wednesday.
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About 2,000 U.S. troops supporting relief efforts after Venezuela earthquakes
PoliticsAbout 2,000 U.S. troops supporting relief efforts after Venezuela earthquakes
By Eleanor Watson CBS News Reporter Eleanor Watson is a CBS News multi-platform reporter and producer covering the Pentagon. Read Full Bio Eleanor WatsonUpdated on: July 1, 2026 / 5:54 PM EDT / CBS News
Add CBS News on GoogleAbout 2,000 U.S. service members are supporting relief efforts in Venezuela after last week's devastating earthquakes, according to the head of the U.S. military's Southern Command.
"The U.S. military, the Department of War, has roughly 2,000 teammates in the area on land, air and sea around Venezuela," Gen. Francis Donovan said in a briefing Wednesday. "They are working hard daily to help in the search and rescue efforts, to help in the recovery efforts to deliver needed supplies."
Donovan told reporters that the focus right now is looking for survivors — Wednesday marked the seventh day since the two earthquakes.
"In these situations, you have anywhere from 3 to 7 days that you have to respond to hopefully recover people that are still living and maybe injured in the rubble," Donovan said.
Venezuela's government on Wednesday said over 2,000 people have died as a result of the earthquakes, and over 10,000 were injured.
Shortly after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, the U.S. military helped fly in about 310 specialists from urban search and rescue teams who are now on the ground, according to John Barrett, the chargé d'affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. He said they have rescued five survivors, including a mother and her toddler.
After the U.S. military conducted an overnight raid in January to capture Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration outlined a three-phase plan for Venezuela that consisted of stabilization, economic recovery and transition with free and fair elections.
"That reconstruction looks a little bit different, of course, since the devastating earthquake, but the economic recovery had already begun," Barrett said. "I'm focused right now on saving lives, but we will get back to Phase 2 and Venezuela's economic recovery."
Barrett said the U.S. has provided over $300 million in humanitarian assistance since the disaster.
U.S. Southern Command in a statement listed support from the military, including a coordination cell to transport humanitarian aid. Some of the teams on the ground include a specialized Army medical unit to provide surgical support and a U.S. Marine Combat Logistics Company that has a water purification system, a mobile potable water container, and a military-grade tow truck.
Barrett told reporters that removing the debris from collapsed buildings would be a "huge task."
"We will continue to work with the Venezuelan people to adjust these needs, including sanitation, water, energy generation, and we will continue along that path as long as it takes," Barrett said.
When asked about the scale of the U.S. military support, Gen. Donovan said each crisis is different but the current support is probably larger than what was provided after Hurricane Melissa last year in Jamaica but smaller than after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
"We are focused on saving lives right now, finding folks still in the rubble and setting conditions for logistics, you know, delivery of relief supplies, so right now it's what we call 'full speed ahead,'" Donovan said.
