Cavaliers Now In Line To Land 1 of 2 Top NBA Free Agents

After Friday's trade of Dennis Schroder and his $14.8 million salary, the Cleveland Cavaliers have saved roughly $6.8 million off their luxury tax obligations. That puts them one big step closer to landing one of the two notable remaining free agents this summer. 

Cleveland continues to explore a potential sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets for RFA Peyton Watson, and secondarily, with the Atlanta Hawks for UFA Jonathan Kuminga. 

But one more barrier remains. 

If the Cavs find an actual taker for Max Strus without taking back salary, that’s when the alarm bells can really go off here. They’re $29 mil away from first apron, and a sign and trade would hard cap them.

Harden at $25 mil+ and Watson at $20 mil+ leaves room to go. https://t.co/gLYdBUM2oT

— Ryan Blackburn (@NBABlackburn) August 14, 2026

The Cavs will still likely need to move Max Strus and his $16.6 million expiring contract in order to preserve enough room under the first apron to also re-sign James Harden. 

Cavaliers one big step closer to landing a top free agent

Ryan Blackburn notes that Cleveland is now $29M away from the first apron, but a sign-and-trade would hard-cap them. While Watson wants north of $20 million, and re-signing Harden will cost at least $25 million or more, the Cavs have one more piece of surgery to perform on their roster, and Strus seems like the one to be operated on.

Watson has already declined a four-year, $70 million extension offer from the Nuggets, so clearly, passing the $20M AAV threshold for him is what it would take to get a sign-and-trade done.  

Denver is under extreme luxury tax constraints themselves, but are holding out for at least one first-round pick plus a legit rotation player to deal Watson. 

As for Kuminga, he is clearly Cleveland's Plan B at the moment, but if the Watson talks fall through with Denver, the Cavs would turn their attention to the former Golden State Warriors forward. He is also seeking at least a $20M salary, but it's somewhat doubtful he'll be able to land it at this point.