Cavs rumors: Naz Mitrou-Long will reportedly play for team in summer league

Quality shooter Naz Mitrou-Long will reportedly play for the Cleveland Cavaliers in summer league.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are, as other NBA teams, busy this time of year, as the team just made three first-round selections in the 2019 NBA Draft this Thursday in Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., and reportedly signed three undrafted free agents in Marques Bolden, Dean Wade (via two-way contract) and Phil Booth (via summer league deal) that will likely all have ample chances to prove themselves in summer league play.

It was also recently reported by the Deseret News‘ Eric Woodyard (and h/t NEO Sports Insiders’ Quenton Albertie) that former Utah Jazz two-way guard Nazareth “Naz” Mitrou-Long will play for the Cleveland Cavaliers in summer league, and that further adds to the growing narrative that Cleveland is emphasizing perimeter shooting in the coming years.

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Though he appeared in only 15 games in his two seasons with the Jazz (per Basketball Reference), Utah is a quality team and minutes were very difficult to come by, anyhow, and Mitrou-Long has averaged 18.3 points on 57.6% true shooting, to go with 5.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 33.9 minutes per game (per Basketball Reference’s G League statistics) in two seasons with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’s G League affiliate.

Along with that, the 25-year-old steadily developed into a key contributor over the course of his five seasons at Iowa State, as he had career averages of 9.5 points per game on 60.3% true shooting (including a 38.0% three-point shooting clip), and had 15.1 points on 61.9% true shooting and 4.6 rebounds per game in his last season (per Sports Reference).

Mitrou-Long is a player that isn’t overly athletic by NBA standards, but the 6-foot-4, 218-pound guard has a solid handle, and has shown the ability to shoot it from range, mainly as a catch-and-shoot player, but has progressed in his pick-and-roll ball-handling ability in the G League and is crafty in the lane as a finisher, and might display that a fair amount for the Cleveland Cavaliers in summer league play.

Nonetheless, it’s hard for me to see the Cleveland Cavaliers eventually sign Mitrou-Long to a two-way deal, as he is already 25, and they are reportedly not extending another 25-year-old prior two-way player Jaron Blossomgame (who is a quality defender and more athletic) a qualifying offer this summer.

Maybe Mitrou-Long can knock it out of the park in the summer league and warrant a Cleveland two-way deal (or that sort of thing from another NBA team), but even though he had a good summer league last year, I just don’t see it.

The Cavs have a bunch of young playmakers that will need the ball in their hands often when on the floor in Collin Sexton, Garland, Porter and Cedi Osman, and if Mitrou-Long was a younger, more athletic wing defender, it would be more realistic.

Wade is currently one Cavs two-way player as a stretch big, which is more of a need on the Cavaliers right now, adding to that point.

At any rate, we’ll see what kind of impression Mitrou-Long, along with others, such as Bolden and Booth, make in summer league play, which begins on July 1 by the way in Salt Lake City, then shifts to and continues on in Las Vegas through July 15, courtesy of an official press release from NBA.com.