The final pieces of the offseason are falling into place and the East is looking scary, to say the least. It seems like we can’t count out Cleveland either.

🎉 Happy birthday DeWanna Bonner, Jodie Meeks, and Wilt Chamberlain 🕊️ ! 🎉

Cavaliers receive: Peyton Watson (4 years, $88 million), Cam Whitmore

Nuggets receive: Julian Reese (waived), 2031 1st round pick (Cavs, unprotected), 2032 2nd round pick (Kings [from Cleveland]).

Clippers receive: Max Strus

Wizards receive: Tre Mann, 2027 2nd round pick (Clippers), cash considerations.

Hornets receive: Dennis Schröder, cash considerations

For Cleveland: After missing out on another potential LeBron James homecoming, the Cavs were scouring the market for another wing. Watson is an athletic wing who provides great 3-and-D capacity. While his defensive capabilities can be improved upon, his three-point production (41.1% on 3.6 attempts last season) will be highly coveted. He joins a Cleveland wing rotation of Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, and newly acquired Mario Hezonja.

For Denver: Man, that second apron… After a snakebitten 2025-26 campaign that was overrun by injuries, it seems members of the Nuggets roster are falling victim to finances as well. With Watson gone, we can only assume additional pressure will fall on a mixture of Spencer Jones and newly acquired players Lonnie Walker and Alpha Diallo to fill in parts of Watson’s role. The Nuggets still need to shed another $1.3 million, per Bobby Marks, to fall under the second apron. However, this trade opens up a trade exception and some shiny new picks to make moves in the future. With a healthy team, the Nuggets are as formidable as any in the West. In the words of Jokic, they’ll be okay.

(for anyone curious about the penalties of the second apron)

For Los Angeles: Why not? While Strus spent most of last season recovering from foot surgery for a Jones fracture, he is still one of the league’s premier marksmen and brings with him 66 career playoff starts in the last five seasons. With the Clippers’ roster in question until the league’s investigation of Kawhi Leonard concludes, Strus will act as a great complement regardless of who suits up in LA.

Patience really is a virtue. After giving the Cavs some time and space to re-tool the roster, James Harden officially gets his deal done. After the Peyton Watson news, this deal felt inevitable.

With a deal this large, this late in Harden’s career, you can’t help but pocket watch a little. By the time his deal finishes, Harden will be the 6th player in NBA history to accumulate $500 million in career earnings according to Spotrac.

The Dallas Wings may have been in shambles following the All-Star break.

They’ve gone 2-7 in their last nine games, with their only victories coming against the Sun and Tempo, who sit at the bottom of the standings. With news of 2026 #1 overall pick Azzi Fudd needing season-ending knee surgery, the Wings are looking for any opportunity to get hot again. In came the Indiana Fever who sit at the top of the East are riding a 5-game win streak.

This game got pretty chippy in the second quarter, including some extracurriculars between Paige Bueckers (13 PTS, 6 REB, 8 AST) and Caitlin Clark (10 PTS, 9 AST). ⬇️

However, this was a night for both teams’ other stars to turn up again.

For Dallas, this came from All-Star Jessica Shepard (26 PTS, 8 REB) and Arike Ogunbowale (32 PTS) putting on a show. Special props also go out to Awak Kuier (11 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST, 7 BLK) who set a franchise record for blocks in a single game!

For Indiana, we saw another night of brilliance from Kelsey Mitchell (37 PTS, 5 REB, 15/15 FT), who seemed like the only form of offence on the night. Offensive production is never an issue for Mitchell, who has the dangerous combination of all-world speed and all-world shooting (44.3% from three this season) at her disposal. After last night, Mitchell extended her streak of 20-point game to 21 consecutive games, a WNBA record!

A sneaky important element of last night’s game was the packed crowd in Dallas. The Wings usually play at the College Park Center at the University of Texas (~7,000 capacity), but for the Fever’s arrival, they packed out the American Airlines Center (~20,000) where the Mavericks normally play. Fun fact: the Wings will be headed to the AAC full time for all of their home games in 2027!

Dallas really hopes to use this win to build some momentum to close out the regular season. They currently sit in the league’s 8-seed, but only sit 3.5 games back of Las Vegas for the 3-seed.

On Boardroom with Taylor Rooks, former WNBA MVP and 11x WNBA All-Star Nneka Ogwumike told the world that the 2026 season will be her last.

After a prolific career at Stanford, Madame President entered the W as the #1 pick in 2012 and spent 13 of her 15 seasons with the LA Sparks. Ogwumike exits her career with a boatload of accolades.

11x All-Star, 8x All-WNBA, 7x All-Defence, 2012 Rookie of the Year, and capped off by a 2016 MVP & WNBA Championship. Heck, she even won a EuroLeague Championship in 2017!

Of course, as her name suggests, she has served as President of the WNBA Players’ Association since 2016, one of only four women to ever serve in that role. Ogwumike is well-known for her work in fighting for the league’s transformational new collective bargaining agreement, and has overseen some of the greatest transformations in player salaries in WNBA history!

With Los Angeles currently eliminated from the playoffs, her final game will be the regular season finale on September 24th against Golden State.

Thank you, Madame President. 🫡

Enjoyers! Thank you for joining us for another Friday newsletter!

We’ll be back on Monday to fill you in on the best that hoops had to offer this weekend! ✌️

Brian Shkabari