The Peyton Watson saga is causing some stress in Denver, but that’s nothing compared to the situation with Kawhi Leonard, as his trade from LA to Toronto has been put on hold until the NBA investigation into potential salary cap circumvention is finished. And we have no idea when that may be.
In the meantime, it’s holding up the offseason in a major way for the Clippers and Raptors, who have obviously agreed to this big trade in principle but are stuck in limbo waiting to see what happens. In an extreme case, the league could even hand out a major suspension to Leonard, void his contract, or take away draft picks.
All of those rulings could impact the trade, so it’s hard for either team to keep operating and move on to other moves until this thing is finalized and they know exactly what players and assets they actually have to work with.
The Nuggets have no involvement in this deal, and directly, it affects them very little. But indirectly, this is a huge deal because the Clippers are one of the only remaining threats to steal away Peyton Watson. Teams like the Bucks and Hawks are still involved, but they’d at least need Denver to play along with a sign-and-trade.
Clippers are being held up by Kawhi Leonard investigation
The Clippers are the one team looming that could actually find a way to clear the cap space to make a legitimate offer to Watson that applies massive pressure in Denver. But now that we’re stuck in this holding pattern, it seems unlikely that the Clippers are going to submit an offer sheet for Watson without knowing what players and picks they’ll have going forward.
For all we know, the NBA could hammer them and take away the spending power that makes it impossible for them to even access the money to give Watson a deal close to his market value. A lot is up in the air, and until it’s figured out, I wouldn’t expect Los Angeles to be making any big moves.
The longer this drags on, the better it is for the Nuggets, who are gaining a slight bit of leverage with every passing day. The longer they can hold off outside suitors, the more likely it is for them to bring Watson back to Denver on a deal that doesn’t break the bank. It only takes one team to come in and make an offer that ruins the Nuggets’ plans, but right now, the NBA is doing a great job of playing defense on their behalf against one of the most interested known suitors.
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