The Cavaliers are “working through” the steps necessary to secure a FIBA letter of clearance from Real Madrid in order to formally complete their reported minimum-salary deal with forward Mario Hezonja, writes Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).

A FIBA letter of clearance is required for any player making the move from the EuroLeague to the NBA, but it may not merely be a formality in this case, with reports suggesting that Real Madrid believes Hezonja didn’t meet the terms of his NBA exit clause by the July 20 deadline, as we previously detailed. The former fifth overall pick didn’t reach an agreement with the Cavs until six days later and reportedly didn’t pay Real Madrid the necessary $1MM opt-out fee by last Monday.

The Spanish club is said to be concerned about the possibility that Hezonja could sign an NBA contract, get waived later this year, then be free to join a EuroLeague rival. As Stein relays, a report from the Spanish outlet Marca indicated that Real Madrid has broached the idea of retaining Hezonja’s EuroLeague rights in exchange for allowing him to sign an NBA contract. That would ensure that he couldn’t just use a brief NBA stint as a bridge to a new team in Europe.

We have more free agency rumors from around the NBA:

• There continues to be conflicting information on the exact offer the Nuggets have put on the table for restricted free agent wing Peyton Watson. A report from The Athletic stated Denver has proposed a five-year, $70MM deal, but Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who previously said the Nuggets’ offer was believed to be in the four-year, $70MM range, reiterates within his latest Substack article that Denver has been in the range of $16-18MM per year. Either way, the current offer falls well short of what Watson is looking for, according to Stein, who notes that the 23-year-old continues to seek a higher annual salary than what teammate Christian Braun got last year ($25MM per year).
• In the latest episode of his Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported that the Cavaliers are among the teams to express interest in Watson (Twitter video link). However, a Watson sign-and-trade would be especially difficult for Cleveland, given that both the Cavs and Nuggets are dealing with apron-related complications.
• The Lakers signed-and-traded for Walker Kessler and then added Kevon Looney on a free agent deal earlier this month, but those two big men combined to play just 26 total games last season. So it’s no surprise that Dan Woike of The Athletic hears from team and league sources that Los Angeles remains in the market for another center, even though the team already has 16 players on guaranteed standard contracts. Woike considers possible low-cost trade targets for the Lakers and examines what’s left on the free agent market.