Cavs rumors: CLE, HOU, OKC considered only true trade deadline ‘sellers’

At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers may have an outside shot, and that’s a longshot, even, at potentially being in the mix for the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. I still wouldn’t foresee that being the case, though.

But the Wine and Gold do have a somewhat-easier road ahead in the season’s second half, on a positive note. Albeit Cleveland did have a brutal schedule most of this month, and while they’ve had their injury issues, a 10-game losing streak that recently wrapped up was well put a damper to their potential postseason playoff hopes.

Anyhow, since the Jarrett Allen trade acquisition mid last month, and even before that, with him being an expiring player, Andre Drummond was a key subject of Cavs rumors involving potential trades. And that’s been amplified since the Allen acquisition from the Brooklyn Nets as a piece involved in the James Harden, four-team mega deal also involving of course the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers.

The Cavs will continue to look for potential Drummond deals, in the mean time, and he/his representation agreed early last week that he’d be sitting in his remaining time with Cleveland. To his credit, Drummond has had 17.5 points and has been second in the league in rebounding with 13.5 boards per game.

A key issue with Drummond, however, is how his post-ups often stalled offensive flow, and among players that have averaged at least 3.0 post-ups this season, he’s averaged the second-lowest amount of points per possession at 0.82, per Synergy Sports.

I give him his due for his raw production, though, but Drummond has also shot a career-low 47.4 percent this season, with the vast majority of his attempts right near the basket. That sort of thing has helped his offensive rebounding totals some.

But all things considered, Drummond could still, in theory, aid teams in the production sense in the interior/on the glass, and he can be an impact defender when he’s bought-in. Albeit Drummond was not putting forth the same effort seemingly post-Allen trade, and he reportedly was dissatisfied with his minutes-share post-Allen trade.

Regarding some potential suitors for Drummond, though, the Toronto Raptors and Cavs reportedly discussed a possible Drummond deal, and diddo for the Miami Heat and Cleveland. The Boston Celtics, per a report from Sam Amico of Forty Eight Minutes and OutKick, are said to have a “strong” interest in Drummond.

The New York Knicks, per a report from Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword, have interest in Drummond as well, and New York is reportedly “analyzing” whether they should take a swing on a Drummond trade, per Marc Berman of the New York Post.

And although it’s been reported/rumored that the Dallas Mavericks are seemingly testing the waters on possible Kristaps Porzingis trade returns, Dallas is reportedly looking to acquired a physical big that can aid Porzingis, it’d appear at the 5. Per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who reported that, the Mavs have “circled” Drummond, regarding that sort of big, too, to help KP out.

Granted, given Drummond’s $28.7 million salary for this season affecting potential salary matching, there are possible buyout rumors for him that have been out there, even while the Cavs will reportedly do their best to trade him by the March 25 deadline. In regards to others that have been rumored/linked to reportedly have interest in Drummond, you can check those out here.

Moreover, in the possible trade realm, and the group in a general sense, ESPN’s Tim McMahon recently essentially reported on ESPN’s Brian Windhorst’s The Hoop Collective podcast that the Cavs were one of just three clubs that will be true “sellers” in this deadline period. McMahon first stated how the Houston Rockets are “definitely selling.”

Here was more on that/the other two, as h/t Real GM.

"“The only teams that are truly selling are Houston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City. Everybody else is either not going either way, like probably a team like Detroit, or trying to make the playoffs.”"

Cavs rumors about them being one of only a few sellers clearly aren’t shocking.

The Cleveland Cavaliers again will be looking to deal Drummond, and hopefully, will be able to, but we’ll have to see. In regards to that possibility, based on noted reports, and how Drummond would reportedly welcome a potential trade to the Knicks, that’d appear to be a very logical trade partner for him.

Including most notably a second-round pick, seemingly, along with Nerlens Noel, Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox could be sensible, as Dammarell suggested. And Ntilikina, in particular, as a defensive backup point guard, that could help in a playmaking sense somewhat, would be an attractive piece to me, with Noel in a defensive backup 5 role to spell Jarrett Allen a bit.

The Knicks have $15 million in cap space, and the Cavs, if they were to potentially be able to deal JaVale McGee to the Brooklyn Nets or perhaps Miami Heat, both of whom could use a rotational big with postseason experience and were granted a disabled player exception that could absorb him, that could help involving roster numbers.

That’s in possibly executing a Drummond deal, for example, and perhaps waiving an end-of-bench player could help, but again, we’d have to see.

And lastly, as Amico also pointed out, the Cavaliers, along with Drummond, are “also expected to try to move” big Kevin Love. Given that we’ve barely seen Love in action this season because of a high-grade right calf strain/reaggravation of that, though, I’d more so expect a potential Love to go down in the offseason.

He’ll be set to be on the books for $60.2 million in the last two years of his deal, albeit following this season, regarding the salary matching element. But Love has consistently been a subject of trade rumors in recent seasons, as we know, anyway.

Albeit him being dealt during this season would still seem to be a long shot, and Love, even while there will be Cavs rumors involving him/a potential trade, one would think, could really help the Cavaliers when he is back from a spacing, defensive rebounding and passing standpoint. And seeing him alongside Jarrett Allen should be particularly intriguing.

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more regarding Drummond, Love and perhaps McGee, though, whose been a rumored possible trade candidate to be dealt, too, for what it’s worth.

And Cleveland being one of just a few reported deadline sellers should seemingly aid them in potential Drummond trade discussions, one would think.