Peyton Watson is one of the highly coveted free agent guards this offseason, and while many expected the Los Angeles Clippers to pursue him this summer, that does not seem to be the case. 

Ahead of the new league year, Michael Scotto reports that the Clippers tendered guard Bennedict Mathurin a qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent. The Clippers can match whatever offer Mathurin gets from another team this summer, meaning he could return to the Clippers. 

According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, this affects the way the Clippers will handle pursuing free-agent guard Peyton Watson. Los Angeles could have decided not to give Mathurin a qualifying offer which would have given them more cap space to sign Watson, but now that's not the case. 

Watson is just 23 years old and is coming off a breakout season with the Denver Nuggets. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 54 games played this season. 

Denver also tendered a qualifying offer to Watson, making him a restricted free agent as well. According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Nuggets are expected to offer Watson "somewhere north of $28-30 million per year" as they look to keep him in Denver long term. 

While Watson could be a big-time pickup for the Clippers, the move may not be possible now, as they could be committed to keeping Bennedict Mathurin. Mathurin is also a player who is coming off a career year. 

In 2025-2026, Mathurin averaged a career-high 17.6 points per game this season. He is only 24 years old, and after trading Kawhi Leonard, Mathurin could be in for a bigger role on the Clippers next season. 

After the news broke of Kawhi Leonard being traded away to the Toronto Raptors, Brian Windhorst of ESPN came out and said the Clippers may have enough room to be "power players" during this free agency period. 

Los Angeles has enough room to potentially sign one or two newcomers to the rotation, even if they re-sign Mathurin. 

Before the news broke of Jaylen Brown being traded to Philadelphia by the Boston Celtics, the Clippers had the potential to move pieces around to make way for him. 

Instead, they flipped Kawhi for Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, and after drafting guard Keaton Wagler in this year's draft, the next step of the offseason could be to add more pieces to the frontcourt.