Cleveland Cavaliers: Top 5 Trade Targets That Fit Into Their Reduced Trade Exception

Willie Cauley-Stein

Willie Trill Cauley-Stein is a second-year center who, like many other University of Kentucky players, came with a lot of fanfare entering the draft. In the first season of his career, he didn’t disappoint.

Averaging 7.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 block and 0.7 steals in just 21.4 minutes per game, Cauley-Stein had 30 games scoring double-digit points including two games where he scored 20 or more points. He also had 33 games where he recorded at least one steal and 40 games where he recorded one block out of the 66 he played in. In his 39 starts, Cauley-Stein had 16 games where he recorded 7 or more rebounds.

This season, Cauley-Stein has had his minutes (and every other meaningful statistic) cut in half as the Sacramento Kings have a couple of centers that he’s pushed behind Kosta Koufos and now DeMarcus Cousins at center. Georgios Papagiannis, the 13th overall pick in last year’s draft, is also a part of a crowded center group and looking to get minutes sooner rather than later. The thing is, neither Koufos or Papagiannis look to be going anywhere soon (and neither does DeMarcus Cousins).

Cleveland Cavaliers: Should The Cavs Pursue Willie Cauley-Stein?

So it makes sense that Cauley-Stein has reportedly been disgruntled at various points in the year and when you consider he’s just two years removed from being a lottery pick, it’s even easier to understand why. You can’t say for sure what the Kings are planning these days, so there’s not much stock you can put into reports of Cauley-Stein’s availability. However, the Kings do have serious interest in Paul Millsap and while they’d definitely be trading Rudy Gay in that deal, the Hawks might not want Cauley-Stein. Yet, Willie Trill is the Kings’ only young and attractive asset outside of the raw Skal Labissiere.

Unfortunately, Cauley-Stein would be stuck behind Dwight Howard and Tiago Splitter for the foreseeable future. especially with Coach Mike Budenholzer’s familiarity with the skill set that Splitter has from their days with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Hawks would have interest in a quality first-round draft pick and young assets though. The Cavs could give the Kings the young assets, while the Kings give up the draft pick and Cauley-Stein.

No matter what bring Cauley-Stein to the Cavs, the team could use an athletic shot-blocking presence on their team. He would be able to play beside Frye at either frontcourt position or instead of Frye as the center.