DeRozan Fills One Hole. The One Behind Jokic Stays Open.

DeMar DeRozan signed a one-year, $3.9 million deal with Denver on August 21, one day after Peyton Watson was shipped to Cleveland. The sequencing was quick enough that it reads less like coincidence and more like the front office had DeRozan in mind before the Watson trade was finalized. A six-time All-Star waived by Sacramento, DeRozan brings the kind of mid-range creation and late-clock reliability that Watson — talented but perpetually banged up — never quite provided consistently.

The swap makes sense on paper. Watson's day-to-day status had been a fixture of this beat all season, and the Nuggets moved him rather than keep managing the uncertainty. DeRozan is older and less athletic, but he has been in big moments and knows how to get a bucket when the half-court stalls. That matters for a team that went 16-13 in close games last season — a meaningful gap below what their overall record suggested they should be.

What DeRozan does not do is play center. Jonas Valanciunas left for Zalgiris Kaunas in July, and nothing since has addressed that vacancy. Jokic logged 34.5 minutes a night last season across 75 games — the backup center situation was already thin before Valanciunas departed, and it is thinner now. Aaron Gordon and Trevon Brazile remain day-to-day heading into camp, which keeps the forward depth fragile as well.

Denver is better today than it was 48 hours ago. DeRozan is a real player and this is a real addition. But the roster still has the same structural gap it had when I wrote about the Watson deal Wednesday — the one spot that no amount of wing reshuffling fixes.