More Details On Five-Team Peyton Watson Trade

The various parts of that trade leaked in pieces over the course of the evening, and it sounds like the deal will also include the Clippers and Wizards and Hornets, with last week’s Dennis Schröder/Tre Mann agreement between Cleveland and Charlotte being folded into this transaction to make it a single five-team trade.

The deal should end up looking something like this:

• Cavaliers to acquire Peyton Watson (sign-and-trade; from Nuggets), Cam Whitmore (from Wizards), and the draft rights to Ismael Kamagate (from Clippers).
• Clippers to acquire Max Strus (from Cavaliers).
• Hornets to acquire Dennis Schröder (from Cavaliers) and cash (from Cavaliers).
• Wizards to acquire Tre Mann (from Hornets), a 2027 second-round pick (from Clippers), and cash (from Cavaliers).
• Nuggets to acquire Julian Reese (two-way; from Wizards), the Cavaliers’ 2031 first-round pick (from Cavaliers), and the Kings’ 2032 second-round pick (from Cavaliers).

While most of these details have been reported by multiple outlets, Kamagate’s ultimate destination hasn’t been confirmed. Jake Fischer, who reported Kamagate’s inclusion in the deal (via Twitter), just said the Clippers would be sending him out, but didn’t clarify which team would be acquiring him.

Since Fischer only mentioned the Cavaliers in that tweet and reported in a separate tweet that Cleveland was primarily responsible for orchestrating the five-team trade, our assumption for now is that Kamagate will end up with the Cavs, since he wouldn’t need to be sent elsewhere to satisfy touching rules — every team in the deal is already sending an asset to or receiving an asset from at least two other clubs. But it’s possible Kamagate’s landing spot could change by the time the trade is officially finalized.

Another point of clarification: The 2027 second-round pick headed from the Clippers to the Wizards in the deal has been described as the same second-rounder L.A. acquired from Philadelphia in its deal for Johni Broome. That means it will be the second-most favorable of the following 2027 picks:

1. The Sixers’ 2027 second-round pick.
2. The Warriors’ or Suns’ 2027 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).
3. The Thunder’s, Rockets’, Pacers’, or Heat’s 2027 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).

Here’s more on the deal from the perspective of four of the five teams involved in it:

(Note: The Hornets aren’t discussed here because they’re not acquiring or sending out any new pieces besides the ones included in their initial Schröder deal.)

Cleveland Cavaliers

• The expectation since James Harden declined his player option in June has been that he’ll sign a new two- or three-year deal with the Cavaliers. However, Cleveland’s various pursuits of free agents like LeBron James, Watson, and Jonathan Kuminga has put Harden’s deal on hold while the team waits to see how much it can pay him while remaining below a first-apron hard cap. According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Cavs are expected to move forward on re-signing Harden once the Watson trade is officially done.
• The Cavaliers will have roughly $28.4MM in space under the first apron once the trade is complete, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) and Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link). That doesn’t necessarily mean Harden’s first-year salary will be $28.4MM, since Cleveland will likely want to maintain a little breathing room below that hard cap in order to be able to add a 15th man sooner or later. The exact value of Harden’s deal will depend on his starting salary, but if he gets, say, $27MM in year one, it could be worth up to $56.2MM over two years or $87.5MM over three.
• With Watson on board and Harden’s new contract expected to take up most of that room below the first apron, it seems safe to assume that Kuminga is no longer in play for Cleveland.
• Having traded away their 2027, 2029, and 2031 first-round picks, the Cavaliers now have no tradable first-rounders remaining, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). While Cleveland still controls its 2033 first-round selection, it’s currently “frozen” and can’t be traded since the club finished last season above the second apron.

Denver Nuggets

Despite not taking any players on standard contracts back in the trade, the Nuggets will remain above the second tax apron, since they were operating over that threshold even without taking Watson into account. They also still only have 13 players on standard deals, so they’ll need to add a 14th man for the regular season.

Los Angeles Clippers

• Technically, the Clippers could preserve about $10MM of their $17MM John Collins trade exception by acquiring Strus’ $16.7MM expiring deal as part of their Kawhi Leonard trade with Toronto. That would allow them to use Leonard’s outgoing salary as the matching piece for Strus and Brandon Ingram ($40MM) while taking Gradey Dick ($7.1MM) into the Collins TPE. However, it’s extremely unlikely they’ll take that route, since it’s still not clear when that deal will be finalized and the other four teams involved in this transaction likely won’t want to wait on it. So Strus figures to simply slot into the Collins TPE.
• Assuming the Leonard trade is completed sooner or later, this new trade would leave the Clippers roughly $15.1MM below the luxury tax line and $23.7MM below their first-apron hard cap, according to Gozlan. Those figures don’t account for restricted free agent Bennedict Mathurin‘s $8.77MM qualifying offer, however.
• Again, if we assume the Leonard trade goes through and Ingram and Dick end up on this Clippers roster, the team would have 16 players on guaranteed standard contracts – plus Cam Christie on a non-guaranteed deal – before accounting for Mathurin. While Christie and Broome look like candidates to be waived, L.A. would have to trade or release a second player before the start of the regular season if the plan is to re-sign Mathurin.

Washington Wizards

• The Wizards got involved in the trade in an effort to address the “positional imbalance” on their roster, explains Josh Robbins of The Athletic. As Robbins writes, Whitmore appeared unlikely to play much of a role with Kyshawn George, AJ Dybantsa, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Justin Champagnie all ahead of him on the depth chart.
• Conversely, Washington had interest in adding a point guard who could provide additional depth behind starter Trae Young, Robbins observes. The team made a two-year contract offer to Russell Westbrook before he retired and will now add Mann, who showed some promise in Oklahoma City and Charlotte before a back injury sidelined him for most of the 2024/25 season.
• By swapping out Whitmore’s $5.5MM expiring salary for Mann’s $8MM figure, the Wizards will move to within about $8.4MM of the tax line, per Gozlan, with one open spot still left on their projected 15-man regular season roster. Washington won’t add any guaranteed money to its books for 2027/28 but will hold an $8MM team option on Mann for next season.
• According to Robbins, Reese became expendable after Washington used a second-round pick to draft big man Felix Okpara and signed him to a two-way contract.