At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to be fully sold on Jarrett Allen being their long-term answer at the 5 spot, which is very nice to know.
In that realm, the Wine and Gold, according to a Monday report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski, came to an agreement with Andre Drummond/his agent, Jeff Schwartz, that Drummond would sit from here in the rest of his time with Cleveland.
Drummond, who has been a key subject of trade rumors, given his expiring contract and the Cavs last month acquiring Allen via trade from the Brooklyn Nets, it seems could be headed to the Toronto Raptors as his next destination via trade.
That’s in relation to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium on Monday (subscription required), who stated how the Cavs and Raptors are in “active talks” about a potential Drummond-centric deal.
Charania did report how the Nets and Dallas Mavericks are interested in Drummond if he were to eventually be bought out by Cleveland, too, but even with Drummond’s $28.7 million salary set to maybe involve a number of other teams because its size for near-salary matching, it still wouldn’t seem at all likely Drummond is bought out.
Charania noted that Cleveland doesn’t feasibly want to do that, and the reasoning is clear as to why, albeit we’ll have to see what a return might be.
For what it’s worth, Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword before suggested that Toronto could perhaps send Aron Baynes, Norman Powell, Stanley Johnson and Patrick McCaw and a future second-round pick.
Two of those players are set to be expiring, with Baynes having a non-guaranteed next season (so really three) and Powell is set to have a player option decision this offseason, of which is set to be $11.6 million. I’d expect McCaw to be waived, along with Dean Wade if that were to play out, for context. To me, though, Powell could maybe end up being a player that could be a long-term piece for Cleveland.
And in regards to other potential suitors, Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes noted on Monday how along with Toronto, the “Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers,” and the LA Clippers and again, Nets, have been listed.
He hit on how the New York Knicks, who are looking to move Kevin Knox, could be a “team to watch,” too, and Mitchell Robinson is set to be out for approximately 4-6 weeks because of a fractured right hand.
Okay, so it’s clear that Drummond is no longer in the fold for Cleveland, in what’s to be his time left with the Cavaliers, regarding playing minutes.
He reportedly has been less than satisfied with his minutes-share since the Allen trade, and the two sides deemed it was unfair to have him playing less minutes-share than he would’ve liked. That’s a plus for Cleveland at this point, though.
So what’s the two key positives regarding that for the Cavs, and looking onward, then?
We’ll hit on that here, with the first one next.