3 takeaways from Cavs’ historically bad home loss to Clippers

Takeaway #3: Drummond may not alter the Cavs’ draft plans as much as some think

When the Cavs traded for Drummond near the trade deadline, I felt like plenty believed that automatically ruled out the Cavs drafting James Wiseman. For reference, Wiseman played a bit at Memphis, but has since reportedly withdrawn from school and is focusing on the 2020 NBA Draft.

Anyway, I certainly believe it’s more likely that the Cleveland Cavaliers draft someone such as Georgia’s Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball of the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL, Auburn’s Issac Okoro, or Deni Avdija of Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League, but I wouldn’t necessarily rule Wiseman, a seven-foot center, out yet. Albeit, Dayton’s Obi Toppin could be another 2020 draft target as well, too.

The Cavs have seemingly had a tough time trading Love, reportedly because of how they value him, him being 31 and of course, his injury history. If they want to trade Love, they will likely have to lower their demands a bit, considering Love is due to make $91.5 million over the next seasons following 2019-20.

Now, where Wiseman comes in next is if Love is still on the roster. In today’s NBA, where it is dominated by wings and guards, it doesn’t seem that it would make a ton of sense to pay Drummond all that money when Love is on the roster.

It wouldn’t make a tone of sense if in today’s NBA your two highest paid players are bigs year-to-year, again, and that’s something I would be hesitant in doing, if I’m the Cavs.

I certainly don’t think Wiseman is a leading option by any means, but right now with how much the Cavaliers have struggled, they took a flier on Drummond and are experimenting with him, to see if he fits/works even into next year, assuming he opts into his $28.8 million player option, which is reportedly likely to happen, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico.

I just wonder if the Cavs are unable to trade Love, how sensible it is in today’s NBA that is dominated by wings and guards to commit that much money to an old school center, Love, perhaps Wiseman, and also factoring in Nance, who is due to make $11.7 million. Nance’s salary isn’t all that steep, but anyhow, if the Cavs were to win the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery, I think the pick would probably be Anthony Edwards.

He’s had an up-and-down season, but he probably has the highest upside, but in a down draft that has no consensus top player, it’s unclear at this point what would happen anyway.