At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not featuring Andre Drummond with the club. It was agreed between him/his camp and the Cavaliers that Drummond, whose been a key subject of trade rumors, won’t be playing in games for them during the rest of his tenure with the Wine and Gold.
In terms of potential trade suitors, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported on Monday that the Cavs and Toronto Raptors were in discussions about a possible Drummond trade, for one (subscription required). And regarding another involving Drummond, Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes reported recently that though they’re has not been discussions about it, the Boston Celtics have “strong” interest in Drummond.
Amico also noted that the “New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets” and the LA Clippers, have been linked to Drummond, “among several others.”
In that realm, the Miami Heat and the Cavs have reportedly discussed a Drummond trade, per Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Heavy.com, among others, and Amico reported how a source told him that the Heat are a “definite darkhorse” for landing Drummond. It would honestly seem as if the Heat would be more so a candidate to land Drummond via potential buyout, which many appear to believe could eventually play out.
I would still the Cavs could very well end up dealing Drummond, though, albeit Charania reported how a deal could take a “while” to be executed, and potentially take a number of teams. And on the contrary to the Toronto-centric report, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca’s reported how his sources stated that the Raps “aren’t actually interested in pursuing Drummond,” so we’ll see.
To me, though, in terms of recently suggested trade returns, I was particularly a big fan of Drummond being sent to the Knicks, who are reportedly interested in Drummond, in exchange for Nerlens Noel, Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox. That was a hypothetical proposed by Spencer Davies of Basketball News. For my rationale there, you can view more on that thinking here.
Anyhow, it’s evident that Drummond is no longer in the playing picture with Cleveland, but he’s still a member of the team, but when asked if his situation with the team could seemingly be a possible issue, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke plainly on that. Here was more in that realm, via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, which one might have mixed feelings on.
I asked #Cavs J.B. Bickerstaff if there's any concern about Andre Drummond impacting team morale. Bickerstaff said "yes," but believes in the commitment of his guys.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) February 17, 2021
It’s understandable to question if the Drummond situation were to potentially impact team morale, but while the Cavs seem to just still be a big fan of Drummond, Bickerstaff reportedly believes they’ll handle it/get through it.
These comments from Sexton (pardon his French), via Davies, were a big positive, to me, in particular, though.
Collin Sexton says #Cavs had best practice in quite some time by just getting after it, "talking shit" and getting back to who they are.
— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) February 17, 2021
Those Sexton comments on the Cavs’ Wednesday practice are a great sign.
Obviously, the Cavs, regardless of the Drummond trade rumors/situation involving him, are a club that’s eight straight games.
And their West road trip resulted in them losing all five games, and though I’m encouraged by them fully buying into Jarrett Allen being their long-term future at the 5, and he’s clearly been far more efficient than Drummond, the Cavs having some time here to get back into a better place at home should be meaningful.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers were originally set to play the San Antonio Spurs at home on Wednesday, but given four reported positive tests within the Spurs, after their Charlotte Hornets game on Sunday, they were set to have then their following three games postponed.
The Hornets had their next two outings postponed due to contact tracing, and they were set to play the Denver Nuggets on Friday, albeit the league switched up that one and instead the Cavs will host the Nuggets on Friday then.
In any case, while it again is a situation that has its set of layers, Drummond is reportedly permitted to use the Cavs facilities to stay in game shape for his next destination, as should be how things are.
And though he’s not going to play with Cleveland anymore, guys still consider Drummond to be their teammate and enjoyed playing with him.
They’d also seemingly be all for working out with Drummond in the summer, such as Sexton hit on, per Fedor.
Lastly, it was also good to know that per Bickerstaff and via Fedor, that Kevin Love, whose been sidelined since Dec. 27 (high-grade right calf strain aggravation) was able to do ‘quite a bit of the live stuff'” during a Wednesday workout he had. He could seemingly return on Sunday versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, and him being able to be a particularly active participant was reassuring.
Albeit swinging back, Sexton hitting on how the Cavaliers had their best practice in “quite some time” on Wednesday as Davies noted was a great sign, even amid the Drummond trade rumors/situation with things shook out.
Hopefully the Cavs can stay bought-in overall here, and get things back on track.