Cleveland Cavaliers: 2 key sellers for FA target Alex Caruso

The 2021 NBA Draft is under a week away now on Thursday of next week, and the way it appears things are likely to turn out, Evan Mobley could very well be on the Cleveland Cavaliers via their #3 overall pick.

That in itself would be a heck of a get for Cleveland, as Mobley could have superstar potential as a two-way big, and I do believe he could be a unicorn-type big that can play both the 4 and 5. Or maybe Jalen Suggs, or Jonathan Kuminga could be in-play there; I wouldn’t expect that, though.

From there, while the Cavaliers are not set to currently have other picks, they could possibly end up having one via Collin Sexton trade perhaps, with say, the Golden State Warriors via their second first-rounder at #14. That is rumored to be a possible framework of a deal, and from there, the New York Knicks could reportedly be interested in offering one and/or both of their #19 and #21 2021 NBA Draft picks as part of a package.

That said, while in theory, I could understand the Warriors #14 pick, to go with Jordan Poole, as a move for Cleveland involving Sexton, I’d still rather them keep him, given that he’s a player on the rise and had 24.3 points per game in 2020-21. A potential deal with the Knicks, conversely, would be an awful move.

Okay, so from there aside from the draft/Sexton, and maybe trades involving perhaps the to-be expiring Taurean Prince and/or Cedi Osman, both of whom were previously mentioned in trade rumors, it does seem that Cleveland could add a piece or two in 2021 NBA Free Agency.

Rumored potential targets that have been suggested have been the likes of T.J. McConnell and Alex Caruso, for example, involving the backup point guard position, and wings such as Reggie Bullock and Doug McDermott have been. So has Josh Hart, who could be a restricted free agent, but is reported to want a “fresh start.”

Those are players that, via the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, set to be roughly $9 million, I’d be on board with; I would think those players could maybe be had for say, $5-6 million of that too, although the wing shooters maybe a bit more.

Anyway, while I’d be fine with Cleveland pursuing any of them, feasibly, in this case, here, we’ll focus on Caruso, who again, was recently mentioned as a potential free agency target in a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. As were most of the aforementioned others in that report.

So what are two key sellers for Caruso for the Cavs, then?

We’ll examine those two here, beginning with #1.