Cavs draft: Examining Cade Cunningham’s potential role as key scorer, playmaker for CLE

The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ rebuilding phase has taken a considerable leap in improvement within the last year. As these young Cavaliers continue to grow and develop, it would seem that only one piece is missing to the puzzle.

That missing piece, from my perspective, could very well be a versatile playmaker that can play off the ball, too, as well as fill in on the wing. That sort of piece could be 2021 NBA Draft prospect Cade Cunningham, albeit that’d likely involve Cleveland eventually landing the first overall pick this summer.

And with the 2020-21 NBA season reaching its conclusion soon, eyes are beginning to shift to the draft class for this next season. Among the talent in this upcoming class is Cunningham, a 6-foot-8, point forward out of Oklahoma State. When it comes to these lottery odds in the NBA, we all know that anything can happen. Perhaps the Wine and Gold could end up landing that top pick, or could potentially, have a shot at Cunningham if they were to land #2, per se.

In his lone collegiate season at Oklahoma State, Cunningham averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. At 19 years old, Cade is already proving to everyone that he has earned his spot as a top pick in the draft, and very well the top pick, even.

Cade has the potential to be a franchise-altering player for the Cavaliers.

With that in mind, here, we will examine how the Cavs could best utilize Cunningham, and how his potential role in the lineup could affect the team moving forward.

To start off, let’s examine Cade’s scoring abilities, feasibly both on and off the ball in that case.