Phoenix Suns interim head coach Earl Watson. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Few people have more admiration for what Will Barton has done this season with the Nuggets than Earl Watson.
Watson, currently the Phoenix Suns interim coach, was a teammate of Barton’s in Portland.
“I’m so excited for him and happy for him. He deserves it,” Watson said. “He’s a big-time player. It wasn’t that Will got better, it was that Will got an opportunity. He was always good.”
After Watson said that, things got interesting. He was asked whether he’s reached out Barton, who is in the midst of the best season of his young NBA career.
Yes. It turns out he had.
“Will and I talk a lot,” Watson said. “He leases out my house so I make sure he pays me. My house in Denver. That says a lot about the respect you have for a player because I would not lease out my house to a lot of players.”
Wait, what?
It has been 15 years since Watson was with the Nuggets. They signed him as a free agent in 2005 to a five-year, $29 million contract, but traded him seven months later to the Seattle SuperSonics in a four-team deal.
But he kept the house. Instead of selling it, Watson has rented it to athletes in town ever since. Former Nuggets guard Ty Lawson was one of them.
The tale touched off a priceless back-and-forth between Watson and Nuggets TV play-by-play announcer, Chris Marlowe, which started with the question as to what years Watson was with the Nuggets.
Watson: I was here in 2005.
“You’ve held that house all this time?”
Watson: Yes.
“Just accruing all that interest.”
Watson: You want to come over for a house party?
“Leasing it out as you go?”
Watson: Yes. I’m also beyond just a coach. I’m a business man. (laughter)
“Are there any other basketball players leased your house?”
Watson: Ty Lawson. And some Rockies. I’m business-minded. I went to UCLA. (more laughter)
“I know that. I called your games at UCLA.”
Watson: Do you remember?
“Yes. Don MacLean, Earl Watson.”
Watson: Don MacLean is like 30 years older than me. But good to see you.
“Good to see you, too.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
