How Celtics Are Impacted By Surprising Cavaliers Trade News originally appeared on NESN.
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The Cavaliers completed a trade on Wednesday, which was mainly centered around the acquisition of Peyton Watson.
Watson is a promising player coming to Cleveland from Denver and could be a piece that elevates the Cavs and gets them back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
With the Cavs being an Eastern Conference team, let’s take a look at how this trade could impact the Celtics this upcoming season.
How Celtics Are Impacted By Surprising Cavaliers Trade News
Most would argue that acquiring Watson and parting ways with Max Strus was an upgrade for the Cavs.
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Watson is a younger and more versatile player who should bring more to the table for Cleveland, and it was an even more necessary addition after Cleveland lost a few players this offseason, including Dean Wade.
Cleveland’s potential starting five of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is a quality one that will keep the likes of the Knicks, 76ers, Heat, Celtics and others on their heels.
At this point, we are bound to see some very quality teams in the play-in tournament next season, which means a couple of rosters that seem playoff-ready may not make the postseason.
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The fact that Watson is coming from the West to the East isn’t any better either, as for what it’s worth, it’s different than an East player being traded to another East team.
The Celtics will be playing a lot of these quality Eastern Conference teams throughout the season, so they’ll definitely be battle-tested the second the season begins, which will show us what we should expect from them once the postseason rolls around (if they make it).
