Did Cleveland’s chances of landing Peyton Watson increase with Denver’s latest move + if Saliou Niang will actually hoop for LSU in the fall? Wine and Gold Talk podcast

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Ethan Sands and Chris Fedor discuss the Nuggets’ offseason decisions, clarifying the significance of Lonnie Walker IV’s signing and how it impacts Denver’s strict control over restricted free agent Peyton Watson and ongoing interest from the Cavs. Takeaways:1. Why haven’t the Cavaliers held the same player-led minicamps as last offseason?Q: Is the lack of group offseason workouts an indication that the current Cavaliers roster feels incomplete?A: The quieter offseason is primarily due to timing and personal life events rather than roster uncertainty. Last year, Donovan Mitchell was the main organizer of team get-togethers, but this summer, he has been occupied with his wedding and honeymoon. Additionally, the Cavaliers’ season extended further into the playoffs than it has at any point since 2018, requiring players to take more time for physical recovery and mental downtime. While there hasn’t been a centralized minicamp yet, players are still diligently working on their individual games. For instance, Evan Mobley has been working with individually with his trainer to develop his face-up jumper and three-point range. An organized team gathering is fully expected closer to training camp once Mitchell returns and schedules finally align.2. Does Lonnie Walker IV’s deal with Denver mean they are moving on from Peyton Watson?Q: The Denver Nuggets recently signed Lonnie Walker IV, pushing them further into the luxury tax. Does this signal they are preparing to let Cavaliers target Peyton Watson leave?A: Despite the heavy financial implications, Lonnie Walker’s signing is essentially a training camp invite and does not directly tie into Peyton Watson’s future with the team. Walker will have to prove his overseas growth translates to the NBA to secure a final roster spot, merely providing theoretical depth for Denver. Conversely, Peyton Watson is a former first-round pick whom the Nuggets have heavily invested in developing, and all indications point to them wanting to retain him. Denver views Walker and Watson as two entirely different calibers of players. While the Nuggets are sitting over the second salary cap apron, giving Walker a trial run does not preclude them from matching offers or keeping Watson if it aligns with their strategic goals.3. How does restricted free agency impact Peyton Watson’s potential availability to Cleveland?Q: Given Denver’s massive luxury tax bill, can the Cavaliers expect a cooperative sign-and-trade for Peyton Watson?A: Securing Watson will be highly complicated because restricted free agency intentionally favors the incumbent team. Denver has been in complete control of the situation since extending his qualifying offer. Unless a sign-and-trade brings a significant return — such as acquiring an intriguing asset from Cleveland, the Clippers or Milwaukee, or finding a way to dump a bad contract — Denver has absolutely no incentive to do other franchises a favor. If negotiations stall and Klutch Sports cannot find a lucrative long-term offer the Nuggets are willing to match, Watson may simply play the upcoming season on a one-year qualifying offer. Even with the harsh financial penalties of the second apron, the Nuggets have high championship aspirations and are willing to maintain an expensive roster to remain a legitimate threat out West.4. Are reports of Cavaliers draft stash Saliou Niang returning to college legitimate?Q: How is it possible that Saliou Niang, who was drafted by Cleveland and subsequently played overseas, might join LSU this fall?A: Reports suggest that Saliou Niang could return to the United States to play college basketball for LSU, creating an unprecedented situation regarding collegiate eligibility rules. Although Niang was drafted by the Cavaliers, stashed overseas in the EuroLeague, and played for Cleveland’s Summer League team, he has not signed an official NBA or G League contract. Navigating current NCAA eligibility is described as the “wild, wild west,” where seemingly impossible professional-to-college transitions are now becoming a reality. Cleveland completely retains Niang’s exclusive NBA rights and will ultimately decide if and when to sign him to a professional contract. The Cavaliers initially did not anticipate bringing him to the NBA roster until the 2027-28 season at the earliest, making this a fascinating curveball.5. What are the potential developmental benefits of Saliou Niang playing college basketball?Q: How could transitioning from a professional European environment to the collegiate NCAA ranks benefit both Niang and the Cavaliers?A: Moving to college basketball could potentially accelerate Niang’s overall growth by placing him in a system strictly geared toward player development rather than high-stakes, win-at-all-costs professional games in Italy. While playing against grown men overseas provides excellent competitive seasoning, a prominent collegiate program like LSU might offer him more on-ball opportunities, targeted coaching, and a longer leash to play through his mistakes. Competing under the bright lights of American college basketball against high-level, future NBA prospects would give the Cavaliers’ front office and fans a much closer, visible look at his progression. As long as Cleveland retains his draft rights, letting Niang mature in an established college system could organically deliver a significantly more NBA-ready player down the road.You can also listen using your preferred podcast app. Subscription information is below.Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.The video version of the podcast is on YouTube as well.TranscriptNOTE: This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and could contain misspellings and errors.Ethan Sands: What up Cavs Nation? I’m your host Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. And joining me Today, Chris Fedor, cleveland.com, Cavs beat reporter. And Chris, the NBA calendar is funny because once free agency begins to slow down people, people assume everything stops. And sometimes it genuinely feels that way. But in reality, some of the most important off season work is happening right now just behind closed doors so people don’t have it being blasted on social media and in the light of the public. Whether it’s player workouts, roster decisions or the development of younger prospects, August is often where the foundation for the upcoming season gets laid. And that’s where I wanted to start today’s discussion because this time last year it felt like we were constantly hearing about Cavalier players getting together. There were player led minicamps. Donovan Mitchell brought teammates to New York. Evan Mobley organized workouts in Los Angeles. This year has obviously been much quieter. Part of that is completely understandable. Donovan Mitchell just got married to Coco Jones when many of his teammates in attendance were Craig Porter Jr. Also got married. First and foremost, congratulations to those guys. So it’s not like these guys haven’t been around one another. It just hasn’t looked like the organized basketball focused offseason we saw a year ago. The only thing that’s really surfaced recently was a clip of Naquan Tomlin playing in an open gym and slamming home monstrous dunks with Donovan Mitchell in Greenwich, Connecticut. But this lack of collective content during Silver is a real season, as Jimmy likes to call it, also made me wonder whether the quieter off season has to do with the fact that the roster still doesn’t feel complete. Because as we know, the Cavaliers continue to be linked to Peyton Watson, John the Kaminga and other free agents as they’re still exploring ways to add another wing. And there are legitimate questions about whether this is the exact group that’s going to report to training camp. And to me, player led minicamps may lose a little bit of value in you’re still waiting for another move or trading with players who won’t actually be on the roster come October. So Chris, have you heard anything about whether there’s still an expectation that the players will get together before training camp? Or has this simply been a different kind of offseason where life events have naturally taken priority over the basketball world of things?Chris Fedor: Yeah, I think that’s what it is, Ethan. I think it’s more about the timing of everything and the fact that the the Primary organizer of these team get togethers. These player led team get togethers in the past has been Donovan Mitchell. And Donovan’s been busy. He’s got a wedding to plan, he’s got to be in a wedding and now he’s on his honeymoon. So I would expect when Donovan gets back and it’s more basketball related and it’s closer to the time of training camp that the team will get together in some capacity, a bigger capacity. I don’t think it’s so much tied to what the roster currently looks like, what the roster is going to look like moving forward. I think it’s just about the timing of it all, especially when it comes to Donovan and his wedding. But you know, these guys are getting their work in the way that they need to. Jaylen Tyson has been working on the Donovan Mitchell signature move. You’ve got Evan Mobley working to expand his game. He does the same thing every single summer. It seems like he goes to Academy USA with a bunch of other NBA guys that work out with Olin Simplest who is the guard whisperer. So now Evan is expanding his game more out to the three point line and trying to introduce a face up jumper and things along those lines. So I don’t think there’s any concern whatsoever from the Cavs perspective that these guys haven’t gotten their work in or just because they haven’t gotten together in one location to this point because schedules haven’t allowed it, that somehow they’re behind or anything along those lines.Ethan Sands: I think that’s fair. And as we’ve talked about in our own personal lives, sometimes you it’s step away from the job field to be able to get back and go full ham when it comes to an 82 game season. And we understand that Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Craig Porter Jr. They’re still kind of getting back in the flow of things. I know I saw online that Evan Mobley took a trip with Darius Garland. So we’re going to continue to see the balance of the fun stuff with also the basketball acumen, especially when Donovan Mitchell gets back from his honeymoon. I believe he’s starting in France, so so good for him.Chris Fedor: And there’s one other thing, Ethan. This season went longer than any other season for the Cavs since 2018. So the off season didn’t start at the time that it has in past years. It started a little bit later on. So that means that these guys have to get their recovery, they’ve got to get some downtime, they’ve got to get some escape from basketball. And for a lot of those guys, it it happened in the past after the playoff run ended. But because the playoff run extended a little bit longer, it kind of pushed the schedule back a little bit more. But you also saw a situation at summer league where you didn’t have a lot of representation from the Cavs, in part because life gets in the way of some of these kinds of things.Ethan Sands: And Chris, since we’re talking about things that caught my eye this week, one of the other things that caught my attention was an acquisition made around the league of but it wasn’t necessarily the player who was signed that caught my attention. It was what the signing might tell us about another player the Cavaliers have been watching for weeks. I know I mentioned Peyton Watson, so we’re going to get there. Denver brought back Lonnie Walker iv on a one year, $3.3 million contract after his season in the Euroleague. What’s intriguing to me is that the Denver Nuggets now have 14 players under contract, which satisfies the league minimum, as we know. But but Peyton Watson would be their 15th player if he signs the qualifying offer that Denver offered him. Even before that takes place, the Denver Nuggets are already sitting roughly $4.5 million over the second apron. Lonnie Walker’s contract pushes Denver’s luxury tax bill from roughly $68 million to more than $80 million. And if Peyton Watson were to simply accept his qualifying offer, that tax bill climbs all the way up to $120 million. That’s so these aren’t small increases for anyone, even a billionaire owner. So now we’re left trying to interpret what Denver is telling the rest of the league. Is this an indication that the Denver Nuggets don’t expect Peyton Watson to be back and are already filling out the roster accordingly? Does it make a signing trade feel more likely with teams like Cleveland, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks all continuing to monitor the situation? Or Chris, does this actually signal the opposite? That maybe Denver looks at its roster it’s assembled and believes it’s right back in championship contention, and the ownership has decided it’s willing to absorb those financial penalties because it believes this group can win another title?Chris Fedor: My understanding of the Lonnie Walker signing is it’s essentially a training camp invite and there is no guarantee that he’s going to be on the roster by the time opening night rolls around. Now he could be he could turn some heads. He could look like a guy who belongs in the N after a couple of stints overseas and kind of adapts his game and shows that he has grown and matured and can be more than just a bucket. He can do a lot of other things on the floor, the things that he’s been showing overseas, those things are going to translate to the NBA. That is an outcome that is entirely possible. But my understanding is it’s essentially a training camp invite. And when you have that kind of situation, I don’t think it ties into Peyton Watson at all. Obviously would theoretically provide more depth and would theoretically provide more insurance. And every team has to prepare their roster accordingly. Right. If you feel like you have a weak point or a potential weak point on your roster because of salary cap situations or because of what you weren’t able to do in free agency, because of what the market dictated you not do in free agency, whatever the case may be, you have to protect yourself. It’s very similar to the Caps. I mean, if you look at the way that their roster is constructed and some of the moves that they made this offseason, they protected themselves in certain areas, certain positional groups that give them a little bit more depth and a little bit more insurance. Depending on what happens With Dennis Schroeder, for example, if he happens to move on, you have Tyrese Proctor, you have Malik Thomas, you have Craig Porter Jr. You know, obviously the Cavs lost Dean Wade, so they got a Dean Wade lookalike, somebody who’s got 6 foot 9, 230 to 250 pound frame that can play more the 3 slash 4 as opposed to the 2 slash 3. So you’re always trying to make those moves in advance based on what happens with your roster, what could happen with your roster. But Lonnie Walker is not going to prevent Denver from bringing back Peyton Watson. They’re just not the same caliber of player. Lonnie Walker has a lot to prove at the NBA level after his stint overseas. Peyton Watson is somebody that the Nuggets drafted, they’ve invested in, they’ve developed former first round pick, and all indications are they would prefer to keep him. But just because they would prefer to keep him, it doesn’t mean that they can based on their financial situation. So if it benefits Denver to eventually move on from Payton Watson, then, then so be it. Then Denver’s going to look at it and say, well, there’s a benefit to moving on from Peyton Watson. What we’re getting back from the Cavs in a potential sign and trade is interesting enough for us. Or what we get back from Milwaukee in a sign and trade is Interesting enough for us, or moving on from Peyton Watson allows us to attach the bad contract of Zeke Najee that gives us some financial flexibility. So there’s just like a lot of different things in play. But at the end of the day, Denver is in control of the Peyton Watson situation and they have been in control of the Peyton Watson situation since the minute that they gave him the qualifying offer. And Cleft Sports does not like restricted free agency. All agents around the NBA have a problem with restricted free agency. And the people that love restricted free agency are the teams because it has been put into place so that these teams can protect themselves and potentially keep these guys. And I think Denver’s looking at it saying, okay, if we don’t get a long term deal done with Peyton Watson and there’s no sign and trade out there, that’s appealing enough for us, take the qualifying offer and then become an unrestricted free agent next off season. And a lot of times when we’re talking about today’s restricted free agency, Ethan, either it’s a no brainer decision for these organizations to say, all right, we’re just going to give you a brand new contract, a lucrative contract, or in many cases players end up playing on the qualifying offer because the two sides are just too far apart financially. And there’s no reason for the incumbent team, in this case Denver, to budge on their stance and start bidding against themselves. The Cavs don’t have money to sign Peyton Watson, right? I mean, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have money to just go out and sign Peyton Watson. So the teams that are theoretically interested in Peyton Watson, Denver has to have negotiations with those teams. And Denver doesn’t have to do the Cavs a favor. Denver doesn’t have to do Peyton Watson a favor. Denver doesn’t have to do Milwaukee a favor. Denver’s trying to do what’s best for Denver and that’s why they’re just going to allow this restricted free agency to play itself out. And it would not surprise me given what I’ve seen in the past and given what Klutch typically wants in restricted free agency and the kind of contract that it seems like Peyton Watson and his camp want, it would not surprise me if everything just ended with Peyton Watson playing on the one year qualifying offer and then Denver seeing what happens next offseason.Ethan Sands: Chris, I think it’s extremely intriguing you talk about how it’s sometimes a no brainer, right? Because we obviously have seen the Denver Nuggets make a lot of moves this offseason. They let go of Tim Hardaway Jr. Jonas Valachunas, Jalen Pickett, Dennis, David Roddy. But they’ve also retained Spencer Jones and Tyus Jones, who they value. They also brought in Marvin Bagley, Lonnie Walker, Bryce Hopkins. Right. Like they have made these moves. And although Klutch Sports, as you mentioned, doesn’t necessarily want to give in to the fact that Peyton Watson might have to take this one year qualifying offer, they’re going to obviously look for a better opportunity. That might just be the situation that Denver and the Peyton Watson camp are in. And I think it’s also important to remember, as I was listing off the financial restrictions and the financial statistics, that the Denver Nuggets are already in around $4 million over the second apron. They’re already projected to be a second apron team. What’s a couple extra dollars? Sure, this is a billionaire owner. It’s not just a couple extra dollars when it comes to the luxury taxes, almost $40 million more. But if you have it and you think that this is going to benefit you when it comes to a postseason run, if you think that the roster construction is going to benefit from having Peyton Watson, then you’re not just going to give up Peyton Watson in a sign and trade to potentially help a team that could be competing with you, particularly the Los Angeles Clippers, who are in the Western Conference. So I do think it’ll be intriguing. And as Chris, you have mentioned on recent podcasts, the Clutch Sports Group and Peyton Watson’s camp and the Denver Nuggets could drag this out as long as they want to, which could again, not be beneficial to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the Denver Nuggets don’t care about what the Cleveland Cavaliers want. They care about getting what is best for them and trying to then again compete with the San Antonio spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder for a championship to get back to the NBA Finals. Because that’s the ultimate goal. Yeah.Chris Fedor: Do you remember the Isaac Okoro situation? Remember when he was a restricted free agent? You think that went the way that Isaac wanted it to go? You think that went the way that Isaac’s representation wanted that to go? No. But restricted free agency has been put in place to protect these teams. And whether we like it or not, whether the players like it or not, whether the agents like it or not, these teams are going to use restricted free agency to their advantage. You know why? Because this is a business. This isn’t a situation where, you know, in that case, Dan Gilbert and Kobe Altman just wanted to hand Isaac Okoro a whole bunch of money because they were worried about a relationship long term or something like, no, they’re running a business and they had to make the best financial decision for them and they thought, you know, the minute that they extended him the qualifying offer, they were like, okay, go shop around. Go see if something else is out there for you that makes sense. Go see if, if you can get a contract offer and bring that back to us. And if the market tells you that you’re worth more than what we think you’re currently worth, okay, then we have to have a further negotiation or maybe we have to consider some sign and trade stuff. But players hate restrictive free agency and agents hate restricted free agency. But that doesn’t mean that it’s going to damage the relationship between the player and the organization. It doesn’t mean that if Peyton Watson plays on the qualifying offer, he’s not going to give his all in the final year. If his contract or something along those lines. Those feelings right now, negotiations are tough and sometimes negotiations lead to hard feelings and hard truths, but it doesn’t mean that it’s going to linger for the rest of the player’s time in a situation where he’s in. The other thing from Denver’s perspective, Ethan, is that, yes, from a salary perspective, they’re not in great shape right now and they have some decisions that they have to make. They would love to move Zeke Najee’s contract. I think they may possibly have a little bit of buyer’s remorse when it comes to Christian Brown. I don’t think they loved what they had to do in terms of Spencer Jones, but that was just Oklahoma seeing an opportunity and trying to be really, really smart and seeing if they could add a player that would fit their style, fit their system, fit their culture and put Denver in a pretty difficult financial position. And that’s obviously what happened. But Cam Johnson being on the final year of his contract, if things don’t go well for the Nuggets, they have other levers that they can pull during the season. So is is bad of a situation as they’re in from a financial perspective right now. And that makes a sign in trade involving Peyton Watson, not just with the Cavs, but with anybody, very, very complicated because of other moves that would probably have to be made around the roster. There is some potential future financial flexibility that the Nuggets could get and they could be a team that gets out of the second apron by the time that the season ends, depending on how this season unfolds for them. They’re also the number three seed? Well, they were the number three seed in the Western Conference, so they have championship aspirations. And even though you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re in the second apron, the way that you can theoretically justify being in the second apron is competing for a championship and having a roster that you believe in enough that may possibly be able to compete for a championship. It’s not like the Washington Wizards being in the second apron or the Utah Jazz being in the second apron or something along those lines. Denver is a legit threat out west, and if you’re going to be a legit threat out west, you’re going to have an expensive roster and you’re going to have expensive players just like the Cavs.Ethan Sands: The last story I wanted to cover today, Chris, delves back into the topic of players trying to reshape their careers because there’s another interesting cavalier story developing that is specific to this organization, one that’s unlike almost anything we’ve seen in the NBA. Chris, reports have surfaced that Sally Oying, whom Cleveland drafted and immediately stashed overseas in 2025 and is expected to return to the United States this fall and join lsu. First things first, how legitimate are those reports?Chris Fedor: I don’t know. These things are really, really complicated when you’re talking about college eligibility and things like that. Ethan I forget the exact player that it was, but there was a recent case where a lot of people around the NBA just kind of shut down the possibility of a player who was in the NBA going back to, to college and they were just like, this is not going to happen. This is a wonky precedent to set. This is a very slippery slope. And guess what happened. So it is the wild, wild west when you’re talking about college athletics right now and player eligibility and things like that. Look, I know from the Cavs perspective that they like Sally Odinian. They drafted him for a reason. They’ve invested in his development. They have sent multiple people from the organization to go visit Salyu on different occasions, too. And their thinking and the Cavs don’t want to be dismissive and just say that like, hey, there’s no chance that a guy develops into something quicker than we anticipate. So I don’t think they’re shutting the door on an opportunity for Niang. But, but the idea from the Cavs has always been, okay, 27, 28, when that season rolls around, that’s more likely when Niang is, is going to have an opportunity to come join the NBA roster. I don’t think again, they don’t want to box themselves into a corner, but it doesn’t feel like a team that was ever preparing for Salio Niang to be part of the roster in 26, 27. It was next year, when maybe possibly his development would be at a place where they would consider the possibility of. Of bringing him to the NBA. But like I said, from the Cavs perspective, you know, it’s hard to know exactly how this kind of thing is going to unfold, but they like him, they believe in him. They believe in his talent and his skill set, and they would like to continue to invest in his development. But when we’re talking about college athletics and we’re talking about eligibility rules and things along those lines, we’ve already seen one. And once you open that door, it increases the possibility that other players are going to try and go through that same door.Ethan Sands: Chris, you mentioned it there. If these reports end up being true because there’s already been one player to go from the NBA draft back to college, this creates a fascinating conversation from both the college basketball side and the NBA side. Although to be clear, while Sally Onyang was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who late into the 2025 draft, he has not played an NBA game. He hasn’t played in the G League. Only tie he put on an NBA jersey was at summer league. The next part of this question then is what does this actually mean for Cleveland? Because as you mentioned, this wasn’t a 2026, 2027 plan. But do the Cavs still retain his exclusive NBA rights? Do they still own his bird rights whenever he eventually decides to come over? Is there any scenario where he becomes draft eligible again and could be drafted by another team? I’m just confused, Chris, because back in my heyday, this wasn’t even an option, right? You are entering the NBA draft. You are no longer college eligible. But now we’re in the world of nil. All this other nonsense, and I just don’t know. So I gotta ask you because you obviously know more about this than I do.Chris Fedor: All I know right now is that the Cavs own his. His rights and they decide whether to sign him to an NBA contract and when to bring him to the states. That. That’s what I know right now. This is obviously a very unprecedented situation when we’re talking about a player potentially going back to college after already being drafted after playing overseas somewhere. So I don’t have any other answers beyond that. I don’t know what it would mean for his rights if he were to go back to college. All I know is right now the Cavs own his rights and they make the decision on what happens with his future.Ethan Sands: It’s a complicated situation for the Cleveland Cavaliers to be in. It’s a complicated situation for Sally on Yang to be in. Obviously he wanted to make a splash in the NBA. He got stashed overseas playing in Italia and all this other stuff for the Euroleague. And now I want to talk a little bit beyond all the legal and contractual questions because we talked a little bit about what his skill set and he still is a little bit raw. There’s the basketball conversation about all of this. Could this actually accelerate his development? Could this end up being a good thing for Cleveland that he goes and plays for LSU rather than hooping overseas? Because he’d now be competing against future NBA talent every night while also becoming much more visible to NBA evaluators and cavalier fans who wouldn’t have to travel all the way overseas to go watch him. Which obviously isn’t necessarily a problem for the Cleveland Cavaliers. But what do you think is the potential benefit for Sally o’ Neang and then also individually for the Cleveland Cavaliers?Chris Fedor: Yeah, I mean, I think any time, um, you get an opportunity to play against high level basketball players and, and test yourself against those kinds of guys and be in competitive environments and be in high pressure games with big stakes, I definitely think that that can help your development. But I don’t think he’s being prevented from getting that overseas. Right now we’re talking about somebody who’s playing against pros, we’re talking about somebody who’s playing against men. We’re talking about somebody who is playing in Euroleague games and you know, in Italian leagues. That. That’s not the NBA. It’s obviously not the NBA, but it’s pretty good competition and it’s helpful for a player’s development. Now you might look at it and say if he makes this commitment to LSU and LSU likes him enough, maybe he’s going to get more opportunity, maybe he’s going to get, you know, more touches. Maybe they’re going to allow him to play through his mistakes a little bit more. College seems to be a little bit more geared toward a player’s growth and a player’s development and, you know, seeing if, if they can become better players than the guy that’s steps on campus. Whereas if you’re talking about overseas, there are probably higher stakes, there’s probably more at stake. There’s probably not as much in terms of investment in development because they’re trying to win games at all. Cost. But, but I do think that, you know, there is a situation here where he could go back to college and, and if the Cavs continue to retain the option to sign him in the future, and this is a separate commitment, going back to LSU is a separate commitment than the Cavs having his NBA rights because they drafted him, I definitely think there could be a theoretical benefit. We see all the time that some of these younger players that are starting to come into the NBA are more mature and more ready early on in their careers because of if you play at Duke or if you play at Kentucky or if you play at Arkansas or if you play at one of these premium programs that can give you the kind of experience and the kind of training and the kind of teaching and the kind of coaching that these guys need. And I would say if, if we’re talking about Niang, anytime you can get around some really, really good talent and play against really good talent and see how you stack up against that, that that’s always beneficial.Ethan Sands: Again, this is a situation that is almost unlike any other than we’ve seen, right? So it’ll be intriguing to see what actually comes to fruition with Sally O. Nyang, how the Cleveland Cavaliers organization handles it and how closely they’re monitoring him when it comes to his expectations, their expectations for him, and obviously his development. Because this is all about getting better, trying to rehash what he wants to be a successful NBA career. And this is seemingly now a new pathway to doing that. But we’ll have to wait and see what ends up happening with Sally on Yang, what ends up happening with Lonnie Walker the fourth in Denver and Peyton Watson situation and also everything else surrounding the NBA that is connected with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But with all that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to Subtext. This is where you can send in your weekly hey Chris questions or or get daily conversation from me, Chris and Jimmy directly to your phone. The only way to do so is signing up for a 14 day free trial or visiting cleveland.com Cavs and clicking on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast. It’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’ all be safe. We out.This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff.