If DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and Marc Gasol off table, what’s next for Cavs
With desirable All-Stars off the trade block, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be best off focusing on the future of the team.
If ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is right (and he has an excellent track record of being correct), the Cleveland Cavaliers’ wishlist of superstar talent took a big hit yesterday.
According to Wojnarowski, New Orleans Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins, Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol and Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Paul George are off the table in trade talks and are untouchable for the foreseeable future.
On Cousins:
"So far, New Orleans is determined to re-sign center DeMarcus Cousins and hasn’t invited trade offers on him."
On Gasol:
"Teams are curious to study Memphis’ plans with center Marc Gasol, but so far, the Grizzlies say they’re planning to keep him."
On George:
"For now, the Thunder are fully committed to playing out the season with impending free agent Paul George. They still have hope that a strong run in the playoffs could convince him to re-sign in Oklahoma City."
That’s not ideal for the Cleveland Cavaliers although Sporting News’ Sean Deveney reported that they were set on keeping the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round draft pick they received from the Boston Celtics in the Kyrie Irving trade. According to Deveney, the Cavs and owner Dan Gilbert want to keep the pick in their backpocket in the event that LeBron James leaves the team in free agency this summer.
Ironically, the idea behind trading the pick is that by utilizing a valuable asset like a potential top-five pick in the draft (the Nets currently have the eighth-worst record in the NBA) on an All-Star level player, James may be more inclined to stay.
Cousins, an athletic scoring machine with range out to the three-point line, is certainly in the running for the title of the best big man in the league. Gasol, an aging unicorn who could anchor the defense and score from anywhere on the floor, has held it before. George, perhaps the most fitting talent of the trio, is as complete a perimeter player as there is in the league.
Any of those players joining the Cleveland Cavaliers would have been a terrific addition, perhaps even at the cost of Isaiah Thomas or Kevin Love in addition to the pick. Now, the only All-Star talent the Cleveland Cavaliers can get seems to be Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. Thanks to the connections between the Clippers front office and the Cavs, in addition the assets the Cavs have, a deal is possible.
However, trading for Jordan would be equivalent to the Cavs trading away what could be a future franchise player if they couldn’t get the Clippers to take their own first-round pick in 2018.
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Jordan isn’t worth that. He won’t be the game-changer the Cavs need in a post-LeBron era, even if he re-signs when his contract expires in 2019 (he has a player option in his contract this summer).
James may be 33-years-old but he’s been the best player in the league for nearly a decade. He’s having what may be his best season in the 15th year of his career with averages of 27.6 points, 9.1 assists, 8.2 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 block per game. To add, he’s shooting 55.8 percent from the field, 39.0 percent from three-point range and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.
From that standpoint, James is defying Father Time. Keeping a player on the team who has been to seven straight NBA Finals and is the biggest box office draw in the league is going to keep the Cavs as a marquee franchise for at least a couple of more seasons.
On the other hand, James won’t be around forever and there are players in this draft class that show superstar potential.
Related Story: 5 players the Cavs can draft with the Nets' pick
*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com