Explanations for 3 Cavs players protected in FanSided NBA Expansion Draft

FanSided NBA/The Step Back recently conducted a hypothetical NBA Expansion Draft, and here I’ll give my explanations for keeping three Cleveland Cavaliers players in that.

NBA fans have been craving the Association being back ever since the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus began. Heck, sports fans in general have been starving for various sports, really. Sticking with the NBA standpoint, though, and from a Cleveland Cavaliers fan’s perspective, this is even more so the case.

Unfortunately for us Cavs fans, the 2019-20 campaign is in the books, too. The Cavs, who went into the hiatus at 19-46 and had the league’s second-worst record, were not one of the top 22 teams chosen to participate in the NBA’s Orlando restart.

The Cavaliers could be one of the non-Orlando squads that could reportedly be involved in a second NBA “bubble” in Chicago in September and could have four Summer League-esque games, but that’s seemingly far from certain. Either way, the 2019-20 season for the Wine and Gold is essentially in the books.

Albeit for all NBA fans in general, the hiatus again has led to plenty of creative ideas floating around and discussion both looking back at prior eras of the league and with fans looking forward for their teams.

Moreover, a cool idea that was originally brought to light with the lack of basketball for a while came from FanSided NBA Editorial Director Josh Wilson, and that was involving a hypothetical FanSided NBA/The Step Back Expansion Draft. You can view that write-up by the relevant FanSided Staff at this link.

This featured two expansion teams, in the Kansas City Burnt Ends and the Seattle Sea Lions, which would in this context, bring the NBA team count to 32. Regarding that, the logos/designs for their uniforms came from FanSided graphic designer Anthony Guagliardo. In terms of the picking of the two hypothetical teams, those were drafted by FanSided NBA editor Gerald Bourguet and Hoops Habit site expert Duncan Smith.

In terms of the rules/guidelines for the FS NBA Expansion Draft, here were those for the two squads, per the FS Staff.

"“Each expansion team will select a minimum of 14 players who are under contract or restricted free agents for the 2020-21 season. We assumed all player and team options would be picked up so those players would need to be protected. Each expansion team may select no more than one player from each existing team. Each expansion team can only select players that are left unprotected by an NBA team. No free agents. Each of the 30 NBA teams may protect a maximum of three players on its roster who are under contract or are restricted free agents at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.”"

With those rules in mind, here, I’ll give my explanations for the three Cleveland Cavaliers players I chose to protect in the FS NBA Expansion Draft.

In the draft, those Cavs players I chose to protect ended up being Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. 

First up, I’ll touch on why I chose to protect Sexton.