Cavs: Predicting what happens with their four expiring contracts
By Amadou Sow
Predicting what the Cavs will do with the expiring Andre Drummond
Andre Drummond was acquired by the Cavaliers for pennies on the dollar near the 2020 trade deadline via deal with the Detroit Pistons. Drummond only appeared in eight games for the Cavaliers, averaging 17.5 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, shooting 55.2 percent from the field. Throughout Drummond’s entire career, he has been looked at as a “stats” guy or someone who looks to chase his own numbers, similar to a player like Hassan Whiteside.
Drummond has tried to expand his game, posting clips of him working on his handle and three-point shot. We are yet to see these improvements in action but it is nice to see Drummond looking to improve his craft.
These improvements aren’t really needed for a player like Drummond and it may benefit him as well as the team if he would focus on bettering his post-game and rim protection.
Looking at some positives, Drummond is a big body down low and a lob threat in the pick-and-roll game. Drummond is also just 27 years old meaning that he “kind of” does fit with the timeline of the young players on the Cavaliers.
Drummond has been the center of a lot of trade talks throughout the months and it would be tough for the Cavaliers to find a suitor for his $28.7 million dollar player option. If Drummond could simplify his game and give the Cavs steady production as a post player and rebounder, as well as becoming a decent rim protector, the Cavs could have something in him.
Whether or not that is asking a lot of Drummond is yet to be seen but, for the Cavaliers to know, they are going to have to give him a chance. It doesn’t seem like teams are interested in Drummond, even while several opposing NBA executives believe Drummond could perhaps be traded before next season, per a report from Sam Amico of Forty Eight Minutes and OutKick.
Granted, Amico in that same report noted that those same opposing execs didn’t seem to express interest in Drummond, but either way, believe he will, it would appear, be likely traded by the 2021 deadline.
For now, though, the trade interest, albeit there was reportedly potential Drummond-for-Gordon Hayward swap discussions with the Boston Celtics, were ultimately kaboshed with how Hayward ultimately went to the Charlotte Hornets formally via sign-and-trade.
And there doesn’t seem to a line of free agency suitors at this point for Drummond looking onward, meaning the Cavaliers could, feasibly, re-sign him at a decent price.