New Cleveland Cavaliers forward Peyton Watson opened up about Donovan Mitchell.
After his introductory press conference, Peyton Watson sat down with Cleveland Cavaliers sideline host Serena Winters to share more about his excitement to join the Wine and Gold.
During the interview, Winters asked Watson what stood out the most about Donovan Mitchell. Here is what Watson said:
"I think just the person that he is. I mean, since I've been a part of the team, since it's been announced that I was going to be a Cleveland Cavalier, he's took the initiative to get to know me, to make me feel included, to invite me to pretty much everything he's done for the better part of this last month or so of offseason.
"And it just shows the type of guy that he is and I think that's something that I was really drawn to because I love to do that stuff. I love to get to know people. I love to know who I'm playing with and he's just made it super easy bridging that gap. And for me to get to know him, he's been very open to getting to know me and that's something that I really, really appreciate."
Watson signed a four-year, $88 million deal to join the Cavaliers via a sign-and-trade deal with the Denver Nuggets. The contract includes a player option and a trade kicker.
For the Nuggets last season, Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 49.1% from the field, 41.1% from beyond the arc and 73.0% from the free-throw line. He's one of the top two-way wings in the league.
Cleveland will start James Harden, Mitchell, Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen next season. On paper, that looks like a lethal starting lineup.
Watson enters next season with career averages of 8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Harden recruited him to the Cavaliers.
Mitchell is one of eight players to average at least 20 points per game in each of the past nine seasons.
The Cavaliers acquired Mitchell from the Utah Jazz before the 2022-23 season. Mitchell is averaging 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs in a Cleveland uniform.
A seven-time All-Star, Mitchell led the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. It was the first time Cleveland made the conference finals since 1992 without LeBron James.
The New York Knicks swept Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the conference finals, but Cleveland's front office remained loyal to Mitchell by giving him the huge extension.
Mitchell signed a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension this offseason.
Mitchell enters next season with career averages of 25.1 points per game in the regular season and 27.8 points per game in the playoffs with the Jazz and Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers begin next season against LeBron and the 76ers in Philadelphia. That will be an electric atmosphere.
It would have been fun to see LeBron come home to play with Mitchell, but King James signed a two-year, $8 million deal to play with Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.
Mitchell will try to do what LeBron did in 2016. The 2015-16 Cavaliers won the 2016 championship against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.
