A suggested Cleveland Cavaliers trade involving Andre Drummond would be a smart move.
A potential trade proposal has been brought up by Evan Dammarell of Forbes with the Golden State Warriors sending Andrew Wiggins and a 2021 first-round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andre Drummond. This is assuming Drummond agrees to opt into his $28.8 million player option for this upcoming season, which is reportedly highly likely to happen.
Wiggins could fill a void that Cleveland has lacked since the now four-time champion LeBron James left, and that’s a solid wing that’s a legitimate starter. Wiggins has slowly but surely developed more and more into what people saw him as coming out of Kansas.
Before being traded to Golden State, who finished with the league’s worst record, albeit due to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson’s absence, Wiggins was averaging a career-high in points, assists and rebounds per-36 minutes this season.
He had 23.3 points, 5.4 boards and 3.8 assists per-36 with the Minnesota Timberwolves leading up to that point. While in Golden State, Wiggins also showed flashes of potential on the defensive side of the ball, while having a teammate and former Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green, saying “I think he can be an All-Defensive (team) player,” via Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
So looking at that suggested trade, this would be a smart move by the Cavs.
Anyhow, this proposed deal by Dammarell would be a smart move by the Cavaliers, if given the opportunity.
Wiggins brings versatility because of his size and speed, something the Cavaliers lack with Drummond who could find himself in a mismatch against smaller teams that can space the floor.
The Cavaliers could certainly use his talents at small forward and he still has plenty of upside being 25 years old. The only others at the position currently on the roster are Dylan Windler and Osman.
Windler has yet to make his regular-season debut because of a stress fracture in his left leg, of which he is seemingly nearly fully recovered from, though, and Osman, meanwhile, has had his ups and downs on the team.
While Drummond is still a good big that averaged a career-best 17.7 points per outing in 2019-20, his fit projects as an odd one. Whereas with the Warriors, perhaps he could provide more of an impact and give them a nice interior player to have and/or at least likely have as an expiring trade piece.
We didn’t see much of him with Cleveland thus far, given the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus and then the Cavs not being an Orlando squad. But the Cavs have Love and Nance under contract and have reportedly been open about a possible Thompson return, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (subscription required).
That’s a crowded frontcourt, especially considering only one of them has true shooting range in Love, although Nance has shown progression in that regard.
The 2021 first-round pick thrown in would bring another asset, which is helpful in any rebuild that could be moved in a trade or used. The value of the pick is most likely going to lose its value the longer it is held depending on if the Warriors can turn back into their contender form, though, and they probably will.
Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman has proven he can be aggressive in making trades, and adding another pick would only aid in those pursuits, seemingly more so down the road.
While seeing Love and Wiggins starting together in Cleveland would be strange, it could be the beginning of really turning around this rebuild. Committing to Wiggins’ contract the next three seasons, of which he’s set to make nearly $95 million, and further progression of young pieces such as Collin Sexton and others, could definitely get this Cavs rebuild going.
Of course, that Wiggins deal wouldn’t be cheap, but he could become a crucial piece for this Cavaliers squad moving forward, and give them a player still with plenty of maybe untapped potential.