Clippers' Rui Hachimura Signing Doesn't End Their Peyton Watson Pursuit

The Los Angeles Clippers made their first external signing in free agency on Monday when they agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with Rui Hachimura. The veteran forward comes to the Clippers from the Lakers, where he has been a consistent playoff contributor for the last four seasons. LA desperately needed more frontcourt depth after the departures of Kawhi Leonard and John Collins, and landed one of the best remaining forwards in free agency.

Many wondered how the Hachimura signing would impact the rest of the Clippers' offseason. There was an expectation that the Clippers would pursue restricted free agent Peyton Watson. While this makes things a little more complicated for the Clippers in the Watson sweepstakes, it by no means ends their chances of landing the Nuggets forward.

It Will Be Harder to Acquire Him, But Peyton Watson Is Still a Clippers Target

The Clippers used most of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Hachimura. Per cap expert Yossi Gozlan, this now leaves LA with only $1.4 million of their MLE to spend on top of their $5.5 million bi-annual exception. Even if they had signed Hachimura with their cap space instead, they still would have only had their $15 million MLE, which is not enough to sign Watson.

So now, the Clippers have two options if they want to land Watson. They will either clear cap space by moving on from a couple of contracts or have to go the sign-and-trade route.

The clearing cap space route would require the Clippers to move on from at least two of Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Gradey Dick, Brook Lopez, and Isaiah Jackson without getting any significant salary in return. If LA can get up to around $25 million in cap space with these moves, they should be able to sign Watson to an offer sheet that the Nuggets may not match.

The sign-and-trade route requires the Nuggets to cooperate. The Clippers have to make it worthwhile for Denver to take their trade offer rather than just signing Watson to a new deal.

Since LA can't have the outright cap room to sign Watson to an offer sheet, they have to send salaries to Denver or a third team to facilitate a trade. To convince the Nuggets to give Watson up, as the Lakers did with Walker Kessler of the Jazz, at least a first-round pick from the Clippers may be needed.

Whether Watson should still be the Clippers' priority after signing Hachimura is another question. Watson is a very good player, and you can never have too many wings in the NBA. Given his age and upside, he would be a worthy signing for the Clippers, depending on the price tag. Until we know what it will take to poach Watson from Denver, the Clippers will seemingly continue their pursuit.

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