Наймдугаар сарын хоёрдугаар хагаст ховор тохиолддог томоохон солилцоог Кливленд Кавалерс, Денвер Наггетс тэргүүтэй таван баг лхагва гарагт албан ёсоор хийж, бүрэлдэхүүнээ өөрчиллөө.
Энэхүү томоохон солилцооны хүрээнд Кливленд Кавалерс Пэйтон Уотсон, Кэм Уитмор нарыг хүлээн авсан бол Денвер Наггетс Жюлиан Рис, 2031 оны драфтын нэгдүгээр тойргийн эрх болон хоёрдугаар тойргийн эрхээр солилцжээ. Мөн Лос Анжелес Клипперс Макс Струсыг эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн бол Вашингтон Уизардс Трэ Манн, хоёрдугаар тойргийн эрх болон бэлэн мөнгө, Шарлотт Хорнетс Деннис Шрёдерыг тус тус авсан байна.
Пэйтон Уотсон Кавалерстай дөрвөн жилийн 88 сая ам.долларын гэрээ байгуулсан нь солилцооны гол цөм боллоо. Өнгөрсөн улиралд Денвер Наггетсэд 14.6 оноо, 4.9 самбараас бөмбөг авалт дунджилж, гурван онооны шидэлтийн 41.1 хувийн амжилттай тоглосон 23 настай тоглогч ийнхүү шинэ багаа хүчирхэгжүүлэхээр боллоо. Кливленд Кавалерсын хувьд Жэймс Харден, Донован Митчелл, Эван Мобли нарын бүрэлдэхүүнтэйгээ уялдаатай тоглох тоглогчийг олж авсан нь багийн амбицыг харуулж байна.
Денвер Наггетсийн хувьд санхүүгийн хүндрэлээс шалтгаалан чадварлаг тоглогчоо явуулахад хүрсэн нь Никола Йокичийн оргил үеийг үр ашиггүй зарцуулж байж болзошгүй гэсэн шүүмжлэлийг дагуулж байна. Нөгөө талд Жэймс Харден гэрээгээ цуцалж, багтаа цалингийн цэсэнд зай гарган өгснөөрөө багаа солилцоо хийх боломжоор хангаж, өөрөө ч тодорхой нөхцөлтэй шинэ гэрээ байгуулах төлөвтэй байна. Энэхүү наймаа нь багуудын цалингийн цэс болон ирээдүйн санхүүгийн нөхцөл байдалд том өөрчлөлт авчирч байна.
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Trades in the second half of August are a rarity. Usually, at this point in the summer, teams wait until closer to training camp opens to make their moves.
Not Denver and Cleveland, they agreed to a big trade on Wednesday. Peyton Watson had been looking for a sign-and-trade that got him paid and he found it with the Cavaliers. With another team looped in, the Clippers, the Nuggets don’t have to take on money as they try to deal with the NBA’s punishing second apron. In the end, this expanded into a five-team trade because… money.
Who won and who lost from this deal? Let’s get into it. But first, let’s break down what the trade entails:
Cleveland receives: Peyton Watson, Cam Whitmore. LA Clippers receive: Max Strus
Denver receives: Julian Reese, first-round pick (Cleveland’s 2031, unprotected), second-round pick
Washington receives: Tre Mann, second-round pick, cash considerations
Charlotte receives: Dennis Schroder
Note: A previously announced trade that sent point guard Dennis Schroder to Charlotte for Tre Mann was formally folded into this larger deal for financial reasons.
Winner: Peyton Watson
Peyton Watson wanted to get paid — and the Cavaliers are giving him his money with a four-year, $88 million sign-and-trade contract that is the heart of this trade. That’s $ 22 million a year on average, considerably up from what Denver reportedly offered at $17.5 million a season (just above the mid-level exception). Watson, 23, earned a payday with his play last season in Denver, but the financially pinched Nuggets couldn’t really offer it, so Watson found it elsewhere.
No pressure Watson, but this is the spot at the three the Cavaliers thought and hoped LeBron James would fill. He chose Philadelphia. Now the job is yours.
Watson needs to show more than he did last season, when he averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, shot 41.1% from 3-point range, and was a plus defender on the wing. While those are good overall numbers, although a closer insepection rasises questions. First, he has to stay healthy, he strained his hamstring in early February and was never the same after that (he tried to come back, wasn’t the same, re-injured the same hamstring and was out for the playoffs). Second, his run of best play came just before the injury when an already-thin Nuggets team was depleted and so he got more opportunities. To his credit, he took advantage of the opportunity, but he’s now the fourth option in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup (behind James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley) and is going to have to thrive off the ball.
That said, Watson is fully capable of filling that role and being exactly what the Cavaliers need. Now he just needs to live up to the contract he wanted.
Winner… if they win: Cleveland Cavaliers
This is an all-in move by a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals last May, realized they weren’t good enough (swept by the Knicks), saw the East bulk up around them (hello, Philadelphia), and decided it needed to do something big. This is big. But the cost was high.
Watson fills the longstanding void at the three, connecting a stellar backcourt in Harden and Mitchell with an elite frontcourt in Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Watson checks all the boxes of what the Cavaliers need from the position: Can play off the ball, can create shots when needed (and lead the second unit at times, depending on how Kenny Atkinson staggers the rotations), shot 41.1% from 3-point range last season, and is a good defender on the perimeter. If Watson plays up to his potential, this is a perfect fit.
It has to be, because the Cavaliers are out of moves and good options. They no longer have a tradable first-round pick. Their two tradable contracts to bring back a quality player were Dennis Schroder and Max Strus, and now they’re both gone. That’s it. This is the Cavaliers team this season and for the foreseeable future.
Is it good enough? It has to be.
Also worth noting: Cleveland is expected to waive Cam Whitmore, making him a free agent some team should take a flyer on.
Loser: Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic is in his prime, and the Nuggets are wasting it.
Once again, the Nuggets have moved on from a talented player who could help them now in the name of financial expediency. A year ago, they traded Michael Porter Jr. for a less-expensive version in Cam Johnson and draft picks, and then Johnson struggled. Maybe Johnson stays healthy and bounces back this season — he is much better than he showed last season — but the Nuggets now need that to happen.
This year, it’s trading Watson for a 2031 first-round pick. The Nuggets reportedly are looking to fill Watson’s role with DeMar DeRozan — a good player at age 37 who can still create his own shot and light it up from the midrange, but does not space the floor. In Sacramento, DeRozan was a clunky fit next to Domantas Sabonis as the Kings used the passing big man as a hub for their offense. If that didn’t click, how does he fit with Nikola Jokic?
Denver is stuck — even with this trade, it is $2 million over the second apron (something they will fix around the deadline, to be sure) with roster spots to fill. They have max contracts with Nikola Jokic — who is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, is extension eligible (but wants to wait to sign a deal), and can be a free agent next offseason — and Jamal Murray, with massive deals for Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun on the books as well (it is the second one of those that really stings, Braun did not live up to his oversized $25 million-a-season deal last season, Watson outplayed him, and Braun needs to bounce back).
Because of the financial crunch, Denver’s depth is an issue. Their bench will be DeRozan (if they sign him), Spencer Jones (with a new contract in hand, thank you OKC), Marvin Bagley III, Tyus Jones, Julian Strawther and DaRon Holmes II. That’s not going to cut it in the West.
This does not mean Jokic is looking to leave Denver — he has consistently said he wants to remain with the franchise, and he isn’t someone who says that casually. He’s not leaking this to put pressure on the Nuggets, he’s just showing up and doing the work. Until he says he won’t, bank on Jokic re-signing with the Nuggets next summer.
It’s just hard to watch Denver wasting the prime of one of the greatest centers the game has ever seen.
(Added note: Denver is expected to release Julian Reese from his two-way contract.)
Winner: James Harden
Harden is a winner on two fronts. First, he shows he’s a team player: Harden opted out of his $42.3 million player option to give the Cavaliers’ front office the cap space to make a big move, and while everyone thought that would be LeBron at first, it ended up being Watson.
Secondly, Harden gains certainty. With the sign-and-trade of Watson, the Cavaliers are hard-capped at the first apron of the luxury tax and currently sit $28.4 million below that number. Harden always planned to re-sign with the Cavaliers for whatever they could pay him, and now we know that number. Harden will re-sign for a little more than $28 million a season, but the 36-year-old former MVP who averaged 23.6 points and 8 assists a game last season likely will be given a three-year deal that gets him more total money guaranteed than he opted out of, and takes him through his age 39 season (in practice, this likely is a two-year deal with an option on that final year).
Winner: LA Clippers
The Clippers are in limbo on multiple fronts. First is the Kawhi Leonard/Aspiration investigation, and while league sources tell NBC Sports the most likely outcome is a settlement between the parties, that will be a tricky line to walk, and nobody is clear what that will look like or what sanctions/punishments would be involved for the team.
Second, they are rebuilding the roster from the Leonard/Paul George era. Where the Clippers win in this trade is that the 30-year-old Strus is the kind of player — a 40% shooter from 3-point range who is a solid defender, plays hard on the wing, and is on a decent contract ($16.7 million, in the last year of the deal) — that is exactly the kind of player some playoff team will come looking for in February at the trade deadline. I’d be surprised if Strus finishes the season a Clipper, but the team will pick up some nice future asset (a player or pick) for the flip in this trade. That’s a decent bit of work.
