The Los Angeles Clippers added Rui Hachimura on a two-year, $28 million deal Monday, using their mid-level exception to bring the forward in from free agency. That much is straightforward. What happens next is where it gets complicated.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the deal includes a team option in the second year. That structure matters because the Clippers still have their eyes on restricted free agent Peyton Watson, and people around the league are trying to figure out if they can actually pull that off now.
Jake Fischer reported the Hachimura signing does not eliminate the Clippers from a sign-and-trade pursuit of Watson. But it certainly makes the math harder.
Watson is looking for something in the neighborhood of $25 million a year. The Nuggets wing has real value as a two-way defender who can guard multiple positions, and at 22 years old he fits a longer timeline. The Clippers, after years of going all-in on established stars, seem to be pivoting toward younger pieces. Hachimura at 26 fits that too.
But $14 million on Hachimura next season eats into whatever flexibility they had. Yossi Gozlan pointed out the Clippers could have had roughly $30 million in cap space before the Hachimura signing, even after bringing back Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders. Now they are looking at a tighter squeeze.
How the Clippers could still land Peyton Watson
The simplest path, according to Gozlan, involves looping Watson into a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons that already has John Collins attached. Collins signed a three-year, $51 million deal with Detroit as part of that same trade structure.
Here is how that would work: The Clippers send draft picks to Denver as compensation for Watson. They give Watson a starting salary around $25 million. They stay over the cap, which actually gives them more spending flexibility than going under. They can still use the bi-annual exception elsewhere. They keep Hachimura on the mid-level. And they can re-sign Bennedict Mathurin using his Bird rights.
That is a lot of moving parts. But the Clippers front office has shown a willingness to get creative when they identify a player they want.
Watson averaged 10.2 points and 4.1 rebounds last season while shooting 37 percent from three. Those numbers do not jump off the page. But his defensive versatility and size at 6-foot-8 make him the kind of wing every contender needs. Denver drafted him in the first round in 2023 and has made it clear they want to keep him. A restricted offer sheet or sign-and-trade would force the Nuggets to match or let him walk.
The Clippers are walking a tightrope here. They added Hachimura, who gives them another scoring option off the bench and a guy who can play both forward spots. They still want Watson, who gives them a defensive identity piece. Pulling both off would require shedding salary somewhere else on the roster. That might mean moving a veteran contract or finding a taker for a player they had planned to keep.
For now, the Clippers are not done. The Watson situation is still alive. The question is whether the math works before the market moves on.
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