The Denver Nuggets' pursuit of Peyton Watson was a long process that ultimately ended in Denver settling on trading away Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team sign-and-trade deal that landed Watson in Cleveland, sent Max Strus to the Los Angeles Clippers and gave the Nuggets one first-round pick and one-second round pick along with Julian Reese. 

The Cavaliers appeared as a seemingly last-minute team to be a suitor for Watson and according to a recent report from the Denver Post, the Nuggets were shopping around the idea of a sign-and-trade for Watson with multiple other teams before ultimately landing on an agreement with Cleveland. 

The Nuggets seemingly came to the conclusion that they wouldn't be the ones to sign Watson early on in the process, with Denver's limited cap space being the primary reason that they wouldn't be able to hold on to him, so throughout the offseason they were looking for sign-and-trade suitors to try and recoup some value for the impending loss of Watson, and seemingly the Cavaliers weren't even their ideal choice.

With how thin Denver's overall depth is, the team would have likely preferred to receive an existing player in return for Watson, rather than strictly draft capital, according to the Denver Post's report, both the Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks were possible targets for the Nuggets before Cleveland. 

When treating with the Bucks, the Nugget were after Jaime Jaquez Jr., whom the Bucks had newly acquired from the Miami Heat in the package they received for Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

With the Bucks in the middle of a rebuild, trying to take advantage of their aggressiveness and possible inclination to try and flip Jaquez Jr. could have been a wise move, but the Denver Post's report stated that those talks never went past the early stages.

The Clippers, on the other hand, were much more likely trade partners. Per the report, Denver was interested in trading for Kris Dunn, however the Nuggets would have also likely been looking for draft capital alongside Dunn for any offer involving Watson. 

That condition alone would have made the deal a tough sell on the Clippers side of things, but because of Denver's limited cap space, they likely would have most likely had to send an additional player alongside Watson to make financial space for Dunn, which at that point would have created more loss than gain for Denver.

Despite the widespread interest across the league and Denver's efforts to connect with multiple teams, the factors working against them led them to Cleveland's offer and receiving any kind of return for Watson was better than letting him walk for nothing.