Lakers get bad Peyton Watson sign-and-trade news from NBA insider
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Lakers get bad Peyton Watson sign-and-trade news from NBA insider originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Peyton Watson’s breakout 2025-26 campaign with the Denver Nuggets has made him one of the most coveted restricted free agents on the market.
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The UCLA product was the definition of a high-caliber three-and-D wing in Year 4, averaging 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 49.1% from the field and 41.1% from three-point land.
The Lakers are certainly a franchise that could use Watson’s two-way contributions in 2025-26, especially if they miss out on former Golden State Warriors NBA champion Jonathan Kuminga. However, according to the Stein Line’s Jake Fischer, it doesn’t appear feasible at the moment.
"Well, like I just said, the Lakers don't have the draft capital to play ball with Denver's asking price," Fischer said Wednesday. "The Lakers are limited to one 2032 first-round pick swap. They don't have any first-round picks they can trade, so that's just a non-starter for Denver.”
"But the Lakers have had an interest in Peyton Watson dating back to the trade deadline. So it's not that they're not interested in him. I just think the Lakers know that there is no real plausible path for them to satisfy Denver's wishes in a sign-and-trade."
Fischer is spot on. The Lakers’ commitment to going all in on ex-Utah Jazz standout center Walker Kessler (they sent two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to the Jazz for the former first-round pick in an early July sign-and-trade) will make it nearly impossible for them to pull off a big-time deal for Watson.
At this stage of the offseason, the Lakers would be better served doing whatever it takes to acquire Kuminga in a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks. If that plan fails, pivoting to Matisse Thybulle, whom Los Angeles has reportedly expressed interest in, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
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