Cavs should not extend Brandon Knight, given his potential trade value

Brandon Knight is one of several players on the Cleveland Cavaliers whose contracts will be expiring after next season, and the team should not extend him this summer, given his potential trade value down the road.

Brandon Knight was one of the pieces acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team deal with the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings near the 2019 NBA trade deadline, and with a new opportunity to play considerable minutes, Knight did pretty well for Cleveland.

As we’ve hit on, Knight barely played for the Houston Rockets last season, as he was only active in 12 games for them, and only played 9.8 minutes per contest in those outings, per Basketball Reference. He didn’t seem to be healthy, and he wasn’t really given a chance to show if he was a key piece, anyhow.

According to Forbes contributor Evan Dammarell, at one point Knight missed 128 consecutive games due to these ailments.

"“Ankle injuries, sports hernias, a torn ACL and complications from repairing said ACL, have all played a part in setting Knight back.”"

Though Knight was likely not 100% when he got a chance to play meaningful minutes with the Cleveland Cavaliers post-deadline, he did prove to be effective as a secondary playmaker and scorer in his minutes, both off the bounce and off the catch.

Knight posted 8.5 points on 49.8% effective field goal shooting, to go with 2.3 assists in 22.9 minutes per game in 27 contests with the Cavs, per Basketball Reference. He shot 37.1% from three-point range on 3.6 attempts per contest, too, primarily as a catch-and-shoot shooter from there mostly off feeds from players such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love.

Just as is the case with Matthew Dellavedova (another expiring piece for next year, by the way), Knight has reportedly done his part in helping mentor Sexton (per Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com), who tore it up post-All-Star break, as we’ve often mentioned.

More from Opinion

• Regrading the Donovan Mitchell-Lauri Markkanen trade
• Seat Index: Rating the 9 NBA head coaches in danger of being fired
• What would a successful 2023-24 look like for Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome?
• A crucial year in The Land: 3 bold predictions for the Cavs this season
• How many teams from the Cavs’ Central Division will make the playoffs?

Knight appears to be a great teammate who has worked extremely hard to get back to near where he was earlier in his career despite so many injuries, as Cleveland.com’s Hayden Grove detailed, which was a starting point guard who could be a high-end three-level scorer and solid facilitator.

I don’t want to take anything away from Knight for the way he responded as a solid offensive complimentary piece with Cleveland in his 27 games, but the root of why Cleveland traded for him in February was his expiring contract for 2019-20.

With that being the case, the Cavaliers should not extend Knight this summer, and should try to trade him next season.

Knight will be making over $15.6 million (per Spotrac) next season, which is now essentially considered a bloated one-year deal, but with him being expiring, the Cleveland Cavaliers could potentially acquire a 2020 first-round pick (or a first-rounder in the coming years) from a contender not wanting to carry a first-round rookie the following season on their roster, and a three-team trade could be feasible as well, considering Knight’s bloated compensation for 2019-20.

Now, the Cavs would likely have to take back a bad contract, but based on owner David Gilbert being more than willing to do so, that should be in play here near next season’s trade deadline for Cleveland general manager Koby Altman anyhow.

Or, the Cleveland Cavaliers could potentially deal Knight earlier in the season and grab two second-round picks and an overpriced-but-expiring contract, as was previously the case earlier last season when they reportedly traded Kyle Korver to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Alec Burks (who was later involved in the aforementioned Kings/Rockets three-team deadline deal) and two future second-round picks at the time.

Ideally, I’d like to see Altman and the Cavs go the first-round route near the deadline, though, because it’d be nice for Sexton to have Knight on the floor at times with him again as a secondary playmaking stabilizer next year for a good part of the season, and as a player Sexton can bounce ideas off in the film room, considering the two have similar playing styles as score-first lead guards.

Knight could continue to help Sexton on the offensive end for a good portion of next year, but given Knight’s injury history, the fact that he’ll be 28 this year, him likely going to be a minus defensive player on the perimeter, as he was last season, and with Cleveland likely drafting a primary playmaker highly in the 2019 NBA Draft that will warrant significant minutes, he should not be a part of Cleveland’s rebuild long-term.

It will help Cleveland on the trade market if Knight can continue to show he’s capable of being a valuable part of a contender’s rotation as a bench playmaker and catch-and-shoot piece, obviously.

I would think with him likely getting healthier in the offseason, that would be the case next year, though.