3 potential lineups that the Cavs could use involving Isaac Okoro

Potential Cleveland Cavaliers lineup #2 involving Okoro: Sexton-Porter Jr.-Okoro-Love-Tristan Thompson?

This second potential lineup is one that we could see the Cavaliers run after the trade deadline, depending on many variables of course. The biggest question from this lineup is in relation to Tristan Thompson’s upcoming unrestricted free agency.

Up until the trade deadline, it looked as if Thompson would eventually re-sign with the Cavaliers but, after trading for Drummond, it looked as if an extension was out of the window. After Drummond was traded for, Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul, and Thompson’s camp, seemingly looked to try and make a move to trade Thompson, per what was reportedly the case at the time, but a deal never came together.

After the trade, Thompson looked to be okay with moving to the bench and the season ended with no complaints from Thompson. Looking at why a re-signing may happen, with the novel coronavirus pandemic set to tremendously affect the NBA it would seem, the salary cap table is unknown and this uncertainly will lead to many teams being more frugal this offseason. With this in mind, Tristan Thompson could look to return to the Cavaliers on a one-year deal, then re-enter free agency in 2021.

Per a report from Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell, Thompson is interested in re-signing with the Cavs via one-year deal, too. Dammarell would go on to note in that piece involving a potential selection of James Wiseman, how Drummond and the Cavs have “begun exploring a possible long term extension,” and would touch on how a Drummond extension and Wiseman selection wouldn’t make sense.

Dammarell did eventually note how a Drummond extension is not a clear-cut thing set to happen, though, and that Drummond could potentially be an expiring trade piece for the Cavs.

Shifting focus back to this potential lineup, though, another key move that can be seen is Garland being moved to the bench for Kevin Porter Jr. This season, Kevin Porter Jr., or KPJ for short, emerged as a fan favorite and is arguably the most intriguing prospect on the Cavaliers. As the season went on, KPJ showed off a flashy offensive play style and defensive potential.

KPJ has nice size and his versatility will be big for the Cavaliers. The best part about KPJ is that the Cavaliers got him for a steal price. The Cavaliers would trade four second picks and $5 million dollars to the Detroit Pistons for the 20-year-old and so far, he has been a joy to watch.

Looking at the lineup as a whole, replacing Garland with KPJ would add size and defense to the starting lineup. The downsides that could come from this is the downgrade in shooting range, that we could see more of from Garland next season and playmaking but, KPJ has shown potential in both aspects.

With Sexton, Cleveland’s leading scorer in 2019-20 with 20.8 points per outing, KPJ and Okoro in the lineup, the Cavs could have themselves three players with great athleticism and players who have an ability to slash and iso as they continue to improve.

Kevin Love, who is fresh off hitting 37.4 percent of a career-high 7.0 three-point attempts per game this now-past season, has great shooting ability and is a sneaky good passer who could find Okoro on cuts.

Lastly, Thompson’s offensive rebounding abilities could lead to extra possessions for the Cavaliers, allowing the current 2020 NBA Draft prospect in Okoro to get more reps. All in all, this lineup has potential but, a lot of things must happen for it to come to fruition, again more so post-trade deadline.