Cleveland Cavaliers: Three potential Rodney Hood trade options

A potential Hood trade with New Orleans

Right now, the New Orleans Pelicans are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Western Conference playoff picture. In addition to that, the Pelicans are under pressure to put together a team to surround Anthony Davis.

Acquiring a forward such as Rodney Hood could give the Pelicans another scorer on the floor to take some pressure off of Davis on the offensive end. So far this season for the Cavaliers, Hood is scoring 12.4 points a game and is shooting 36.0 percent from beyond the arc, per NBA.com.

Johnson is playing behind small forwards Solomon Hill and Darius Miller, while the Pelicans lack a solid number-two shooting guard behind E’Twuan Moore. Acquiring Hood would give them more flexibility at the guard position.

Now, why would the Cavaliers make this deal?  Johnson is only averaging 3.8 points per game and plays15.4 minutes per game for the Pelicans, per Basketball Reference.

However, Johnson does have a $6.1 million contract coming off the book at season’s end (per Spotrac) which is exactly what the Cavaliers front office is looking to acquire.

What would push the Cavaliers to accept this deal is the second-round pick coming back from the Pelicans. According to Tankathon.com, the Pelicans second-round pick would currently fall at No. 41, and this pick would make up for the Cavaliers own second-round pick that is currently slated to go to the Orlando Magic.

Johnson would be nothing more than an asset for the Cavaliers to get back in return for Hood.

With the Cavaliers’ focus on the future after a seemingly lost season, Johnson is another player to suit up for the Wine and Gold and be a minutes-eater.

The main asset, the second-round pick, would be put to good use by the front office. It would be used to draft a young player or they could package it as part of a deal to acquire a better future draft pick.