Cavs would be wise to take flyer on Mfiondu Kabengele
By Dan Gilinsky
The Cleveland Cavaliers recently signed veteran point guard Quinn Cook to two 10-day deals, and while the play for Cook was somewhat spotty during those, I thought he did a decent job.
Cook, who was previously waived by the Los Angeles Lakers in late February, again, had spotty burn with the Cavs, but was a capable ball-mover in reserve minutes, and did hit 6 of his 13 three-point attempts in seven appearances, a 46.2 percent clip. He had 6.1 points and 1.9 assists per outing in those games with Cleveland, which in 13.6 minutes per appearance, was respectable, from my estimation.
Nonetheless, the second of Cook’s 10-day deals with the Cavs recently ended, and while they could have ended signing him to a rest-of-season deal, Cleveland didn’t do so.
According to a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor on Friday, the Cavaliers instead chose to leave that roster spot open.
#Cavs Quinn Cook’s second 10-day contract expired. After a pair of 10-days the only choices were to sign him for the rest of the season or keep that roster spot open. Cavs are keeping it open, sources tell @clevelanddotcom. This puts them at 13 players. Gives them options.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) April 2, 2021
The season debut of Matthew Dellavedova (concussion complications/then appendectomy) was on Thursday, which should aid Darius Garland to some extent from a reserve playmaking standpoint, and likely played into Cleveland’s above decision.
So with two roster spots open, though, I would definitely be a fan of Cleveland potentially signing two-way Lamar Stevens to perhaps a multi-year standard deal, with the years non-guaranteed following this season. That’d be similar to Dean Wade’s deal, for instance.
Stevens’ defense in his reserve burn has given a lift, as KJG’s Zane Harris highlighted, and he has shown at least some flashes as a scorer/driver, and has provided energy.
Perhaps Cleveland were to instead look to do something in that realm with Lamar in the upcoming offseason, via-team-friendly contract, though, as a counter. We’ll have to see.
In terms of a different route for a signing, the Cavs would be smart to entertain a Mfiondu Kabengele signing.
It’d be wise for the Cavs to take a flyer on Kabengele.
Kabengele, who was originally a 2019 late first-round pick by the LA Clippers and played sparingly with them in his 1.5 seasons, was dealt, along with cash, by LA to the Sacramento Kings near the league’s trade deadline last week. But he was waived by the Kings shortly thereafter. He’s an unrestricted free agent currently, in other words.
So why would a potential Kabengele signing, feasibly via 10-day deal, be a smart move, then? We’ll hit on the first reason for that next.