Cavs: Playing Dante Exum meaningful minutes right away is obvious move
By Dan Gilinsky
Exum should blend in and help out the defense
In addition, with Exum showing good defensive instincts and the ability to be solid in pick-and-roll coverage on the wing at 6-foot-5 and with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, it could help out the likes of Darius Garland and/or Collin Sexton perhaps in some minutes playing alongside either of them.
Furthermore, with Exum not being a player that’s going to command a really high usage and dribble and dribble, I wouldn’t think it will take a huge stretch of games for him to blend in alongside the likes of Kevin Porter Jr., Larry Nance Jr. and/or Garland/Sexton.
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Exum was only playing 7.5 minutes per game with the Jazz in 2019-20, and as was noted, he’s had injury issues throughout his career. He is healthy now, though, and him playing a similar minutes-share to Friday’s contest, and in meaningful minutes right away is the obvious move by Beilein and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Sure, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks demonstrated, a key component of the deal involving Exum was the Cavaliers getting further away from luxury tax territory and creating a “3.83M trade exception,” which could help them in potential deals down the road, with other expiring pieces, such as Tristan Thompson, in particular.
Jordan Clarkson is on expiring contract with a $13.4M cap hit. Dante Exum has two years left at $9.6M per year. Cleveland will create a $3.83M trade exception and will also go from $1.3M to $5.1M below the luxury tax.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) December 24, 2019
The future draft capital could help down the road, too, but the Cavs have a player that could benefit from a new squad.
Playing Exum meaningful minutes right away, and passing on playing Knight mostly, is the obvious move.
Would Knight realistically get postseason minutes, if a contender is looking for depth, anyhow?
Probably not, but Knight has been a great teammate and reportedly helped youngsters, such as Sexton and Garland, much like Dellavedova, and the Cavs probably should just have his contract expire to open up cap room this coming offseason. That’s contrary to what I thought previously, but it seems like the right play now, and Cleveland still could feasibly get decent returns for TT and John Henson as the deadline nears.
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See what you have in Exum in a reserve role, Cavs. Playing him right away in meaningful minutes was the right call.