The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly signed guard Nik Stauskas for the rest of the 2018-19 season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have added to their backcourt rotation, as they reportedly signed guard Nik Stauskas for the rest of this season, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (and h/t Sam Amico of Amico Hoops). Stauskas will likely join Cleveland’s backcourt rotation in mainly a catch-and-shoot role, which could provide some decent value in a low-usage way. The veteran guard signing with Cleveland came after a well-traveled last week with the February 7 NBA trade deadline being the culprit, as Fedor demonstrated in his report.
"“Stauskas was first acquired by the Cavs in last week’s Rodney Hood trade. Two days later, Stauskas was sent to the Houston Rockets — part of the three-team deal involving Alec Burks. Then, prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, Houston shipped Stauskas to the Indiana Pacers, where he was ultimately waived.”"
Fedor would go on to mention how due to Indiana waiving Stauskas, the “Cavs were able to sign him.”
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Stauskas has proven himself to be a decent rotation player in his NBA tenure to this point, with career averages of 6.9 points on 49.0 percent effective field goal shooting, 2.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 20.3 minutes per game, per Basketball Reference.
In 44 games this year with the Portland Trail Blazers, he’s had 6.1 points in 15.3 minutes per game, which includes a three-point percentage of 34.4 percent.
As KJG contributor Robbie DiPaola wrote about after the Cavaliers initially acquired Stauskas in the Rodney Hood trade Fedor mentioned, Stauskas could provide a nice role piece for Cleveland.
These last two months should provide some time for Stauskas to show what he can still do in the NBA, as is the case for someone such as Marquese Chriss (who was reportedly traded to Cleveland in the Burks deal mentioned by Fedor).
With Cleveland’s roster situations sorting themselves out with the trade deadline, the Cavs were able to sign Stauskas, because as Fedor said, they had “one open roster spot.”
It’s unclear as to how much of a role Stauskas will have for the rest of this season with Cleveland, but he should help provide spacing for reserve playmakers Jordan Clarkson and Brandon Knight. That added spacing could help free up some room for lob threats in Larry Nance Jr. and the aforementioned Chriss, too.
We’ll see how Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew utilizes Stauskas in the closing part of the 2018-19 season.