At this point, it’s not shocking that the Andre Drummond trade rumors have been out there. The Cleveland Cavaliers seem likely to eventually move Drummond by the league’s March 25 trade deadline, and according to a poll from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto featuring opinions of a number of opposing NBA executives, four believe Drummond could feasibly get “one or two second-round picks.”
Scotto then noted two believed the Cavs could perhaps “squeeze” out a first-round pick, I’d think a lower one, with one being protected, anyhow; two others then thought Drummond would get bought out.
That still doesn’t appear to be that likely, though, frankly, and even with the Cavs sliding lately, I wouldn’t expect Drummond to want to do that, given how it’d impact him in unrestricted free agency this coming offseason.
Anyway, in regards to a potential suitor for Drummond, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported that the Toronto Raptors are among those interested in the veteran 5 man. For what it’s worth, O’Connor previously reported that he’s “heard” the Raptors and the Dallas Mavericks were interested in Drummond.
But in the case with Toronto, that was what he reported more recently, and in that case, that’s the squad I’ll focus more on here in regards to Drummond trade rumors.
In that realm, Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword, who believes the Cavs should deal Drummond sooner rather than later, recently suggested a trade between Cleveland and Toronto. That involves Cleveland sending Toronto Drummond in exchange for Aron Baynes, Stanley Johnson, Norman Powell, Patrick McCaw and a future second-round pick.
Dammarell then reported how, per his sources, they believe “at best,” the Cavs can get a second-round pick or perhaps two for Dre, which seems about right.
Drummond has had a career-best 17.9 points per game and we know about how he’s an elite rebounder, but the inefficiency finishing this season hasn’t aided the potential value, one would assume. Albeit he has provided rim protection/shot altering, and he’s currently seventh in the league in deflections per game with 3.3, per NBA.com’s player hustle data.
Anyway, in regards to the aforementioned trade suggestion from Dammarell, the key piece that jumps out is Powell.
Involving that, here, we’ll hit on what Powell could provide for the Cavs.
Firstly, we’ll get into the reserve scoring punch.
Powell would provide the Cavs with a key reserve scoring presence
This season, Powell’s had a career-best 16.3 points per outing overall, thanks to how he’s rebounded after starting off slow in his first 10 games of this season, realistically. After that stretch, Powell’s efforts have been crucial in Toronto getting themselves back on track.
In his past 13 games active, Powell’s averaged 20.8 points per contest on 49.5 percent shooting, which has included him hitting 44.2 percent of his 6.6 three-point attempts per outing in that span. That scorching stretch of games for him, in which he has started nine of them actually, has been big for Toronto, and Powell, ultimately.
In regards to Powell, though, he’s mostly been a bench contributor for Toronto, and I still believe ideally, he’s a key bench scoring player, as he still often was last season for the Raps. And that was involving that from him in the postseason for Toronto last year as well.
So with Powell, whose very much come on as a three-point shooter over the past three seasons, as he’s 40.0, 39.9 and 43.8 percent over the past three seasons from there, he could help Cleveland from that standpoint, for one in reserve minutes. And while I still have liked what he’s done in other areas, if that means Dylan Windler’s role is cut down, so be it, as Windler has struggled as a deep shooter mostly.
Powell could give Taurean Prince, who I firmly believe will be Cleveland’s bench bucket-getter primarily even more so when Kevin Love is back, some more room to operate, too, and/or have a solid two-man game with Powell, even.
Those two, along with either Darius Garland or Collin Sexton, to go with either Isaac Okoro/Cedi Osman with Jarrett Allen could provide some nice offensive juice as a group for Cleveland for stretches, too.
Powell’s a guy that can create for himself on-ball, also, and again, could take some pressure off of Sexton/Garland in notable bench minutes, I’d think. That sort of thing could aid Cleveland from an on-ball element, and again, Powell could be an added floor spacer in his potential minutes-share with the Cavs.
So, moving along, we’ll next touch on how Powell could possibly be a piece the Cavs might want to have in coming years, too, and we’ll briefly touch on the other suggested pieces/how the Cavs could make this work roster number-wise.
Perhaps Powell could be a long-term contributor for the Cavs?
In relation to the contract outlook with Powell, who is set to be make for $10.9 million this season, he has a player option for $11.6 million for next season. One would imagine that Powell could feasibly could opt out of agreeing to that for next year, though, and perhaps could be a player the Cavaliers look to lock up long-term?
Powell has improved considerably in recent seasons for Toronto, and he’s blossomed into quite the scoring option, and I’d think he could maybe be a leadership presence for the likes of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, also. And while Powell’s not the youngest dude in the NBA, he’ll be 28 in May, so he won’t be really old, either.
Of course, Cleveland, per reports/rumors, will keep around Jarrett Allen around long-term this offseason, whether that’s via new deal or via matching a restricted offer sheet. And it’d appear that Sexton could seemingly be signed to a big-money deal this offseason, when he’s extension eligible.
Albeit perhaps Powell could be a piece the Cavaliers look to maybe sign long-term? I’m not entirely sure what a deal for him would end up looking like, if he were to decline his player option, which could seemingly be the case.
Anyhow, Powell could help Cleveland as a key reserve scoring option that generally been a competent defender against opposing guards as well, so if this suggested trade from Dammarell were to go down, this is something to consider I’d think for the Cavs.
Lastly, in regards to the other pieces in the deal, the 34-year-old Aron Baynes, while he’s struggled with Toronto starting this season, could fill in fine as a backup 5 the rest of the season. With McCaw, who previously had a weird, short stint with Cleveland before, I’d expect him to shortly after a potential trade, be waived.
The 6-foot-6, 242-pound Stanley Johnson could fill in in some minutes here and there as a legitimate defender at the 3 and some at the 4 for the Cavs, from there, and with him expiring, he’d likely be let walk come the offseason. He’d clearly, along with Baynes, be a throw-in, though.
And perhaps to make the roster numbers work, the Cavaliers would seemingly waive Dean Wade.
Moreover, if the Cavs were able to acquire Powell via trade, to go with a future second-round pick, such as Toronto’s 2023 2, that’d be a pretty solid return for Drummond.
If Powell were around in coming years/if Cleveland were to look to extend him before the season, maybe, I’d expect the Cavs to prioritize adding a long-term 4 man to be a Kevin Love replacement (as he’s perpetually mentioned in trade rumors) in the 2021 NBA Draft.
A few prospects that come to mind in that realm are Greg Brown, Jalen Johnson or if they’re lucky enough, a 3/4 hybrid in Jonathan Kuminga, and perhaps the Cavs would look to bring back JaVale McGee, if he were to stick around through this season, or bring in a backup 5 via free agency otherwise.
McGee has been previously mentioned as a potential trade piece for the Brooklyn Nets, who were previously reportedly interested, also, for what it’s worth. Albeit I wouldn’t anticipate that as much now, given their recent signing of Norvel Pelle and Nicolas Claxton set to be back next month; perhaps McGee could be a target for other squads, though.
We’ll ultimately have to see if the Cavs and Raps conduct a deal leading up to the deadline/near it, here.