Thursday night was a complete and utter disaster for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They went up by 29 points against the star-studded Philadelphia 76ers – and then they blew it. Philly came all the way back to win the game, and for Peyton Watson, in particular, it was a pretty disappointing evening. He wasn’t seeing ghosts – he was the ghost.
Watson completely disappeared at times. He seemed invisible. He just didn’t make the impact the Cavs need him to make. Not on the offensive end, and not on the defensive end, either. It was a pretty brutal showing for a guy who the Cavaliers just handed a massive contract to this summer. Definitely not the debut he envisioned.
Both Watson and the Cavaliers have a long season ahead. There will be plenty of time to get back on track. But that was certainly a bad way to begin.
Peyton Watson was a ghost vs. the 76ers
Cavaliers invested a lot in Watson this summer. They wanted him in Cleveland, so they went out and got him. But they spent more than money. They spent assets.
In a multi-team sign-and-trade, the Cavaliers shipped out Max Strus, Dennis Schroder, Tre Mann, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round pick. That’s quite a package. But it’s not all the Cavs gave up.
Cleveland also gave up a ton of money to secure the trade. Once they completed the sign-and-trade, the Cavs gave Watson a four-year, $88 million deal. That’s an average annual value of $22 million for Watson.
Well, he didn’t exactly live up to that in his first game as a Cavalier. In fact, by the numbers, he was one of the least impactful players on the court for Cleveland.
By the end of the night, Watson had tallied a -19. That was the worst mark of any player on the Cavaliers and the second-worst mark in the game (behind only Anfernee Simons, who was a -24).
Watson finished the game with eight points, one rebound, two assists, two steals, and one block. He shot just 2-of-7 from the floor and 0-of-3 from distance, and he turned the ball over five times.
The five turnovers are one of the more concerning issues, as Watson isn’t really a guy who should have the ball in his hands a lot. He’s an off-ball player. He shouldn’t be turning it over that often.
Cleveland needs more from Watson. He needs to defend better (even though he had a tough assignment against Philly). He needs to be more efficient. And he needs to be more careful with the ball.
Watson will improve. But it was a pretty rough debut.
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