Cleveland Cavaliers: Jeremy Lamb could be the steal of trade SZN

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in desperate need of a facelift, and the Charlotte Hornets would be a near-ideal trade partner with the trade deadline rapidly approaching.

At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers are hanging at the edge of the cliff. They are just 6-9 in their last 15 games and have a dreadful minus-7.9 point differential in that stretch, per nba.com. Only the rebuilding Phoenix Suns have a worse plus-minus in that stretch of games. This team seems completely lost right now, and it needs new flesh in the locker room.

The Cavs lack a sense of togetherness on both ends of the floor, and casual fans, NBA junkies, and everyone else in between can see that. Cleveland has not gotten much from Isaiah Thomas, and the Charlotte Hornets could allow the Cavs to put the pieces back together to somehow appease LeBron James with his potential free agency on the horizon.

With Charlotte having a disappointing season to date, and the Cavaliers clearly in dire straights, the Hornets could be interested in dealing away key pieces. According to ESPN Cleveland’s Jordan Zirm, a trade could be in the works.

It’s been reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the Hornets “have made All-Star point guard Kemba Walker available in trade discussions.”

The Cavs desperately need another playmaker to help LeBron James in the starting lineup and take the pressure off Dwyane Wade-led bench units. Walker fits that billing, as he should have been an All-Star this season. Along with his ability to move the needle now, he’s young enough to still be a key piece for the future.

Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz demonstrated recently how valuable Walker’s production could be now for the Cavs and moving forward in a recent article (These statistics do not account for Charlotte’s game last night, but the argument still remains, though).

"“Of the 18 NBA players between ages 18 and 28 who are averaging over 20 points per game and won’t become an unrestricted free agent this summer, only three could be available. The first is Kemba Walker, 27, who’s averaging 22.8 points, 5.9 assists and has an on/off rating of plus-20.3.”"

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For this trade’s sake, we won’t get into the other two players Swartz went on to discuss as options. The trade I believe that would entice both sides goes as follows.

The Cavaliers would trade away the Brooklyn Nets first-round pick, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, the struggling but still talented Thomas, and project big Ante Zizic. In return, the Hornets would give Cleveland Walker, veteran Marvin Williams, and a much-improved Jeremy Lamb.

The trade works for both sides, according to ESPN’s Trade Machine. In my opinion, the Cavs would be much better off getting a younger scoring wing in Lamb, as opposed to Nicolas Batum, who could be available due to his contract.

Batum is amidst the second season of a $120 million deal he signed back in 2016, per Spotrac. On the contrary, Lamb is on a team-friendly deal, as he’s making $7 million this season, and is under contract at just under $7.5 million next season (again, per Spotrac). That’s significant because the Cavs could really use more scoring on the wing, and Lamb is having a career year.

Lamb is averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, and offensive box plus-minus, while getting to play the most minutes per game in his career, per Basketball-Reference. He’s shown improvement in his consistency from three-point range this year and has made 1.1 threes per contest, which ties a career-best. Other than Frye, he would be an upgrade on the perimeter for the Cavs among the players in the above-suggested deal.