This is more serious than we realize...

This is more serious than we realize. The Cleveland Cavaliers are starting to look like serious contenders to acquire a free agent that they originally had their eye on. They are pulling the trigger and they are attempting and they are one of the front runners to acquire Payton Watson. Payton Watson is a sign and trade and free agent available player that the Cleveland Cavaliers have been linked with in the past and it's someone that we have mentioned a numerous amount of times. It's probably the free agent that we as Cavs fans want the most. I'm going to break it down here on Cavs just to tell you guys what is going on with the Payton Watson situation. So it's starting to get more serious. Of course, we talked about how they were linked with him and hopefully we talked about how they traded for him, but we're kind of in the middle there where it just started to build up a little bit. So I'm going to talk about the build up right now. Let's just look at the first one. This is from an ESPN reporter. I actually don't know how to say his last name to be honest, so I'm not going to try it. But anyways, report the Cavs are serious candidates to land Payton Watson per Dave McManaman. I think it's McManaman. I think that's how you say it. But yeah, this was a report that I saw yesterday. I was like, okay, let me kind of dive more into this and kind of see how I can get a video out of this general Payton Watson stuff. Because of course, I have already talked about the rumors and who's linked with who, right? But when news starts to pick up, I got to report it for you all. So let's talk about it. We've talked about a lot of different situations, what the Cavs are going to have to do for Payton Watson. One thing that stood out is that it seems, and I'm going to show you in this video, I'm actually not going to spoil it. I'll pull it up right now. But it seems like the Payton Watson situation is harder for the Cavs to obtain him due to one thing that he's asking for, that the Nuggets are asking for. I'll show you guys that here. All right, so now we kind of look at a different development about Payton Watson. So that's kind of the whole point of this. I want to talk about as many developments as I possibly can regarding Payton Watson. Just kind of give you guys the best update I can on the Payton Watson going to the Cavs until he either is there or isn't. So at first I saw that Payton Watson was, it was starting to get closer that Payton Watson was just going to accept a deal with Denver. But as of four hours of the time that I'm recording this, which is 5.57 PM, Payton Watson has one foot out the door with him and his camp feeling disrespected by the Nuggets. Denver has only offered Watson a new deal that is slightly better than the mid-level exception. Keep that, keep those last couple words in mind, okay? Because if Denver is only offering him a mid-level contract and Denver and Watson is declining it, that means his asking price for his contract personally could be higher than the Cleveland Cavaliers could afford. So just keep that in mind, okay? Because this could be a negative thing. This is a positive thing for his availability around the league, but it could also be a negative thing because he could be asking for a pretty penny that the Cavs just, we know they just don't have. Is he worth the money? Let's talk about it because let's say hypothetically he wants $28 million a year, the Cavs cannot pay him $28 million a year. In fact, I would willingly let Harden walk for that to sign Payton Watson, but that's a different story. So just keep those last words in mind, because it could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing. It goes both ways. Payton Watson is a 15-point scorer who have just five points and two assists on 30 minutes a game, which is a very, very elite stat line for a six-foot-eight shooting guard small forward. On top of that, he's efficient from the three-point line and he's pretty efficient from the field, 49.1% from three, pairing that with a 41% three-point split and then one block a game with one steal a game. And everyone kind of knows him for his two-way ability. Just because you only have one steal in one block does not mean you are not an elite defender. He is a great defender. Payton Watson is just one of the best overall players at his position, especially for his age. He's 25 years old. He has a lot, a lot of, is he 25? Yeah. No, I think he's 23. I think he's 23, not 25. Excuse me. So he just has a dramatic amount of upside that I think could be worth $28 million, but he low-key has injury issues and I don't really want to pay like he's not always injured, but he does struggle to stay healthy for a full season. I personally, if I'm the Cavs, I would prefer to kind of just try to trade shoes in a first and then sign him to a cheap ish deal. But if he really wants $28 million, as I saw earlier, then who knows at this point, but let's just take a breather. Cause as I said, now that we know that Payton Watson's like, nah, I don't, you know, I don't really don't want to work. I really don't want to work with, uh, I really don't want to work with Denver anymore on this contract situation. I want to walk away. Totally makes sense. But at the end of the day, it's about execution and executing the financial situation is something that the Cleveland Cavaliers don't have right now. Of course they don't have Harden signed, but the Harden deal is intact and you still have to make sure that if you can get beat up, Payton Watson, is that, is that his name? P-dub? I think Payton Watson, then you do still have to sign Harden. So you have to try to pair that hand in hand with your financial salary limits. Um, so just keep that all in mind. I also think that trading Schroeder, I also think that getting rid of Schroeder would help too. I think Struce and Schroeder for something would really, really help. Um, I also think that I see some of your guys' comments. A lot of you guys have mentioned that, um, what's it called? That Sam Merrill should be a part of trades because he's an automatic shooter that is easier to trade for financial situations. But we'll talk about that later. Just another report on Payton Watson, the third of the video. That's why you subscribe. Of course, the Cavs are exploring a sign in trade for Payton Watson. Also of interest in John DeCominga. This is actually new by the way. So this is like more like an officialized kind of what the Cavs are aiming to do right now. I do think that based on the reports we have received, Payton Watson is the top priority. So Payton Watson is a top priority. I think if they do get Payton Watson, then Cominga should be out the equation just for financial situations. I think that if they don't get Payton Watson, then Cominga is likely going to be a Cavalier. If they don't get both of them, then we are going to be cooked. Or if we don't get either of them, then we're going to be cooked. Because we definitely need a starting small board that can replace Struess who's six foot five. We definitely need, I mean, we could have Tyson there right now if you want to put Tyson there. But I think that Struess and Schroeder just need to be traded to clear up some financial cap space and be replaced by players who I think bring more upside. I think there's a lot of backup point guards you could look for. If they do trade Schroeder, however, your backup point guard is going to be like Proctor. So you might want to look into that a little bit. Or maybe it's going to be Sam Merrill. I truly don't know what they're going to do with their lineup. But nonetheless, that's just another report we have from the Cavaliers. And it is so intriguing that everyone is backing up everything that I'm seeing. I also saw Evan Sidery, but as I said, I'm not calling him a source. No offense, Evan. Seriously, I'm not calling you a source. But he also posted that he believes that he knows that the Cavs are actively in talks about Peyton Watson. So they are trying to work something out. Again, it's just about execution. And that is something that the Cleveland Cavaliers struggle with time and time again. Because you can be linked with players. You can be rumored with players. But Kobe Altman, he likes to pull the trigger without having to worry about draft day moves. He's never going to develop in the draft. So he's willing to pull the trigger on trading a first-round pick for a guy like Peyton Watson, who is a first-round, who was a former first-round pick a couple years ago, and is an NBA champion, I'm pretty sure. Currently averages 15-5 and 5. He's just the best all-around small four we would have had. Even with DeAndre Hunter, who just played so underwhelming last season for us before he that it's like I truly see this young 23-year-old with this offensive skill set that we could do it all on defense. He's so versatile. He could do it all. He is so well-rounded. And he fills in a huge knee, which is a big athletic small forward, which the Cavs would not have if we get him. So him and Kuminga, I think either one of them, if we get both then, which we just know it's not going to happen at all. But if we were to get both, the Cavs would be in a legitimate position. But I think Peyton Watson, paired with Mitchell, Mobley, I think that's a legitimate starting lineup. And then a pick and roll duo of Harden and Allen would hopefully perform to a level that we know they can. So let me know in the comments below what you guys think about Peyton Watson, this new news. Do you guys think he's coming to Cleveland? Because me, I'm so sick of rumors all the time and all this stuff. I just want to see it happen finally. Let me know if you guys think it is going to happen. I am Appalachian, and thank you all so much for joining me here on Cavs Digest.