3 reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers should not trade David Nwaba

Reason #1: The defense is much better with Nwaba in the rotation

made it much more difficult to contain opposing penetration by primary ball-handlers; Nwaba is clearly Cleveland’s best defender when he’s reasonably healthy, and his activity on the defensive end makes those around him much better off.

His defensive rating is 104.9, which is the best for Cavaliers’ regular rotation players this season (obviously 21 games is a smaller sample size than a possible 52, but it’s still a very legitimate metric for Nwaba’s great defensive play).

To contextualize, that is the Indiana Pacers’ team defensive rating this season, which is currently third in the NBA, per NBA.com. Among Cleveland Cavaliers’ qualified players, only Matthew Dellavedova has a better defensive rating than Nwaba, with a mark of 107.7.

On the season, Cleveland has the worst defensive rating in the NBA at 116.8, per NBA.com, and has played historically bad defense this year, as evidenced recently by Vice Sports’ Michael Pina (Cleveland’s been better since that article was published on January 18, at least, though).

However, if Cleveland had Nwaba healthy more this year, the Cavs’ defensive numbers likely wouldn’t be as atrocious.

Nwaba is a pest on the perimeter against primary ball-handlers; his combination of lateral quickness, speed and seven-foot wingspan makes it difficult to get penetration, and that enables the rest of Cleveland’s defenders to stay more matchup-sound.

Although it seems Cleveland has tried to hide Collin Sexton on defense more lately, it’s clear that opponents have been targeting him often, and it’s been easier, given that the ball pressure without Nwaba in the lineup on the perimeter hasn’t been close to as effective.

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With Nwaba on the floor likely near full-strength when he is cleared to return, his suffocating defense on-ball and help instincts are really difficult for Cleveland to replace.

For his NBA career to this point, he’s averaged 1.3 steals and 0.6 blocks per 36 minutes, which gives a glimpse as to how he positively affects games on the less-glamorous end of the floor.

In a game earlier in the season versus the Houston Rockets, Nwaba’s defensive capability was on full display going against arguably the toughest player to guard in the NBA right now (especially with the way the game is officiated towards him) in James Harden.

According to NBA.com’s matchup data (h/t aforementioned Fedor), in that game earlier this season, “Harden shot 4-of-15 with six turnovers against Nwaba,” showcasing just how much of an impact Nwaba can have when he’s healthy on the defensive end.

Cleveland does not have other defensive pieces like Nwaba, and although he’s been banged up this season, it’d be ideal to keep a key defensive ace around in the next few years to set the tone and help others, such as Sexton, Cedi Osman and Jordan Clarkson, have less of a defensive burden.

The next reason why they shouldn’t trade Nwaba near the upcoming deadline is because Cleveland can play faster with him in the rotation.