Wes Iwund was an intriguing free agent suggestion for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
At this juncture, I wouldn’t expect the Cleveland Cavaliers to be making significant roster moves before next season starts. While he is reportedly undecided in relation to his $28.7 million player option decision for next season, I’d still find it hard to foresee Andre Drummond not eventually pick up that option.
Now, Cleveland could potentially bring back Tristan Thompson, seemingly perhaps via the $9-10 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, feasibly via one-year deal given a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (subscription required).
And I couldn’t blame them for doing so with the to-be unrestricted free agent. That’s in the scenario if the Cavs were to draft a wing, such as Deni Avdija or Isaac Okoro, for example, I’d assume.
In terms of other MLE targets, though, previously it was reported by Fedor that Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Jackson, Pat Connaughton and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, among others, could be in-play for the Cavs, and Sam Amico of Sports Illustrated and Amico Hoops confirmed that report. He noted that Cleveland could potentially also target “several others.”
Albeit Jones is not in-play anymore it seems. Cleveland was not listed as a team interested in Jones in a report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, and Amico reported how the Cavs “do not have an interest in Jones,” so he’d appear out. Jackson it wouldn’t seem would take the full MLE, along with MKG, and I’d imagine maybe not Connaughton, anyhow.
While Jackson or Connaughton could be sensible, as far as another target that jumped out to me, though, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale suggested Wes Iwundu for Cleveland, whose set to be a restricted free agent.
That’d be if the Orlando Magic were not to match, and Favale noted how Cleveland could possibly be able to land Iwundu via “most, if not, all, of the MLE,” and as far as other details on his take there, you can view those here. Perhaps that’d be via one-year deal or maybe a two-year deal for that MLE range, which could be understandable from my perspective.
In that realm, we’ll hit on two goals for Iwundu should he be signed by the Cavs for next season.
The first has to do with the defensive end. And this is in the scenario if Cleveland were to select a big in the 2020 NBA Draft, such as Onyeka Okongwu or Obi Toppin, for further context involving wing free agent targets, such as Iwundu here.