Cavs Offseason Feels on Hold Again Due to Jonathan Kuminga, Peyton Watson Trades

Following LeBron James’ decision to head to Philadelphia instead of coming home, the Cleveland Cavaliers were poised to make more off-season moves.

However, since James’ announcement sent shockwaves around the basketball world, the Cavs have made Mario Hezonja their sole acquisition, leaving them in limbo with a few things still to work out.

One of which is the stalemate they seem to be having in getting top targets Jonathan Kuminga and Peyton Watson, and that seems to have an adverse effect on them re-signing a key part of their roster.

Offseason feels on hold and Kuminga’s demands

It seems ever since LeBron made his decision not to come back to Cleveland to finish his career, the Cavs have stalled.

Their hopes to re-sign James Harden have halted as Harden is giving the Cavaliers a grace period to allow them enough flexibility to build a roster capable of making a legitimate championship run. He wants to remain in Cleveland. At the same time, he wants to sign knowing the pieces to the jigsaw are in place.

Obtaining Watson is the trickier of the two because of the sign-and-trade, whereas Kuminga is perhaps the more interesting target, but he is reportedly asking for a salary of $20 million; therefore, for the Cavs, the most realistic path is through another sign-and-trade.

However, despite the pause button seemingly being pressed on the Cavaliers, there is hope, according to NBA insiders.

"I think that could happen relatively soon,” ESPN Ramona Shelbourne said on NBA Today.

“The question is gonna be: is it a two-year deal, a three-year deal? What the structure looks like is gonna determine what the money looks like. But the Cavs are still poking around with Peyton Watson, and I think that's why James has given them a lot of room to negotiate,"

Why Watson could be out of reach

The Denver Nuggets, unsurprisingly, have been quiet this offseason, as they look to focus on retaining their current crop as they face luxury-tax restrictions.

But instead of freeing some money by letting Watson go, the Nuggets are keen on keeping him.

"We want Peyton to stay with us," a Denver front office executive told. "He's an important player for us. We'll see where things go with his contract, but we've made it clear our intention is for him to stay with us."

The assets needed to acquire either Kuminga or Watson would be similar. In both cases, the Cavs would likely have to complete a sign-and-trade, with Max Strus or Dennis Schroder expected to be part of the package.

The key difference is the asking price: the Nuggets reportedly want at least one first-round pick included for Watson, making him a more expensive target than Kuminga.

But the Cavs seemingly need to take a risk or they might lose Harden after all.

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