Cavs: Summer League didn’t aid Mfiondu Kabengele’s chances

Near the closing stretch of last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, them then adding Mfiondu Kabengele via 10-day deal was not something that was notable.

Kabengele, who was previously a late first-round pick by the LA Clippers in 2019, didn’t have much of an opportunity in NBA action to prove himself. With the Clippers as a contender and him being more so a developmental player, that wasn’t shocking, though.

Kabengele did show fairly encouraging signs with LA’s G-League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers in 2019-20, on the plus side. But he wasn’t able to cement a role game-to-game in LA’s rotation then, nor in the first half of his Year 2.

Kabengele would eventually be traded to the Sacramento Kings near the past deadline, and then shortly thereafter, was waived.

Nonetheless, as we noted, Kabengele would end up being signed via 10-day deal by the Cavs following that, largely because of injuries, and at the time, a flyer for the 6-foot-9, 250 4/5 was an understandable move. He would get another 10-day later, and in May, Cleveland signed Kabengele to a multi-year, albeit mostly non-guaranteed (in years to come from there) deal.

Kabengele did show some nice flashes with the Cavaliers in the closing stretch of last season, namely leading to a block rate of 4.8 percent in 16 games, and his rebounding on both ends was a plus.

Unfortunately, on the offensive end of the floor, while there were moments, his finishing was not stellar for a big, and his catch-and-shoot attempts were often way off. He shot 28.1 percent from three-point range on 2.0 attempts per contest with Cleveland, in what was 11.6 minutes per outing for him.

It was a time in the season when Kabengele getting some meaningful playing time wasn’t something I was grilling the Cavs for, no, but Kabengele’s limitations then were apparent. And in Las Vegas Summer League, there weren’t exactly great results.

Kabengele did lead Cleveland in rebounding with 9.0 boards in 25.0 minutes per game, and he did have a few very impressive blocks, in fairness. That part of his game is legitimate, and I don’t discount that.

That said, overall, his Summer League play wasn’t great and he didn’t aid his case for sticking around.

Kabengele’s play for the Cavs in Summer League didn’t aid his chances.

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I get it was Summer League action, and Cleveland not having really a true point guard in that play, aside from Chandler Vaudrin somewhat (who got injured unfortunately and we’ll see regarding its severity), didn’t make things easier.

Kabengele was very cold still as a catch-and-shoot threat, even in being fairly open, as he knocked in only 1-of-12 of those looks (8.3 percent).

He shot 32.1 percent overall with 6.8 points per contest, but what’s more concerning is that the catch-and-shoot game hasn’t been too fruitful for him in his spot run in the league thus far, as we noted. And on-ball, Kabengele even as a roller at times, is not a threat.

That was shown in Summer League as well; although the passing to bigs, such as him and Evan Mobley, wasn’t outstanding, so I’ll cut him some slack there. I do give Kabengele credit for getting to the line, too, where he hit 78.9 percent of his 3.8 free throws per game, including 7-of-9 in the last W versus Phoenix.

In any case, with Kabengele’s offensive limitations, even with some rotational rim protection qualities, his lack of lateral quickness/agility makes him mostly a spot minutes 5, and in those minutes, he hasn’t been able to clear up fouling issues. In Summer League, he had 4.0 fouls per game, and per-36 minutes for his career, that’s been 4.7, with it being 4.2 per-36 in the G League.

The point is, regardless of it having been Summer League play, where chemistry is a concern, Kabengele still appeared to be very limited, and he didn’t help his case, including with last season in mind, for rotational minutes.

It’s uncertain if free agent Isaiah Hartenstein will be back at this juncture, but with the door reportedly being “open” for a potential return, I’d much rather have him re-signed and Kabengele waived. Hartenstein was impressive in his games post-trade acquisition from the Denver Nuggets last season, and I’d be on-board with Reggie Perry or Bismack Biyombo as well, as an alternative.

So to drive it home, it’s evident that Kabengele didn’t aid his chances for sticking around, at least to me, to/through next season and/or maybe onward. I’m with KJG’s Josh Cornelissen, who doesn’t think Kabengele should be on the 2021-22 roster, to that point.

He is still only 24 though, so I could foresee interest elsewhere for a two-way, maybe. I’m just out on him for the Cavs.