Cavs: 3 reasons why the Lauri Markkanen deal was a good idea

The Cleveland Cavaliers finally made a free agency move! But it might not be the one many expected. The Cavs acquired Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls in a three-team deal that included the Portland Trail Blazers. In the deal, the Trail Blazers received Larry Nance Jr., the Bulls received Derrick Jones Jr., a protected first, and a second-round pick, and the Cavaliers received Lauri Markkanen, paying the seven-footer $67 million over four years.

Initial reactions seem to be even on this deal; the Cavs acquire a unique young player but give up a beloved player that improved the culture of the team. Getting a player who better fits the timeline of the young core makes sense and is more of a move for the future.

The Cavs add a dynamic shooter in Lauri Markkanen. Was the trade a good deal?

Looking at the newly acquired Markkanen, after having a strong start to his career, his play has plateaued over the last couple of seasons. Poor coaching and an inconsistent role last season have seemed to attribute to the plateau. His disappointing play isn’t all on the front office, however, as injuries and offensive inconsistencies are issues that Markkanen has to correct. A new environment may be the key for Markkanen to live up to his 7th overall pick potential.

Overall, the trade is a good one for the Cavaliers, in my opinion, and in today’s article, I will state three reasons why that is the case.

Reason 1: Trade gives the team a look at a young player without huge expense

As stated, the deal for Markkanen is a 4-year, 67 million dollar deal that is estimated to gradually rise each year. A nice tidbit reported by Chris Fedor is that the last year of the deal is just 6 million dollars guaranteed, giving the Cavs a better chance at an early out if things don’t go right.

As stated earlier, Markkanen’s play has plateaued but his second-year statistics show that he could be a huge positive for this team. During his second season, Lauri put up 18.7 points and 9 rebounds per game, shooting 36.1% from three on 6.4 attempts per game. During this season, his confidence looked the best and a late-season start due to injuries didn’t seem to slow him down.

It was also during that 2018-19 season where he had an amazing 11-game stretch from February 2nd to March 1st, averaging 26.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, shooting 48.7% from the field and 36% from three. The Bulls would also go 6-5 during that stretch.

The potential is there and it will be up to the Cavaliers to tap into it once again. Putting him in the best position to succeed is critical and he seems to perform best as a starter. Last year’s starter-bench stats may be an anomaly due to the Nikola Vucevic trade but it may be best for the Cavaliers to ease Mobley into the NBA off the bench, playing him alongside both Allen and Markkanen.

Looking at what Lauri can provide offensively is a key reason why this trade was a smart one.

Reason 2: Lauri Markkanen brings a unique aspect to the Cavaliers’ offense

For years, the Cavaliers have tried to make Kevin Love playing at the center position work as his shooting from that position had helped to open up the offense for guys like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Collin Sexton, and Darius Garland, among others. The downfall was that this isn’t a position that Love liked, stating that he had lost weight to better be suited as a modern-day power forward. There was also a loss of height and interior presence due to that move.

Now with Markkanen the Cavaliers add a floor-spacing seven-footer while not sacrificing an interior presence. Being 7-foot, 240 pounds with his shooting abilities, Lauri should be a better fit at center than Love was. Though the Cavs will still have to sacrifice rebounding and defense with Lauri at center minutes, his solid frame should make for a better pick-and-pop/pick-and-roll threat than Love.

With his perimeter-oriented play, this also allows for more creative front courts from the coaching staff as Markkanen-Mobley and Markkanen-Allen are both frontcourts that should be effective in spurts depending on opponent personnel.

7-foot floor spacers are rare in this league and the Cavaliers have the best one in that aspect as according to NBA.com, of all seven-footers, Markkanen shot the highest percentage from three last season at 40.2% while attempting the second-most threes per game, just 0.2 attempts behind Kristaps Porzingis.

Reason 3: This trade signals the end of the Kevin Love era in Cleveland 

During Kevin Love’s career in Cleveland, there have been many ups and many downs. Since arriving, Love has been involved in trade discussions which have slowed down due to the large extension he received three years ago.

Since LeBron’s departure, the Cavaliers have returned to being the bottom feeders of the NBA and during this time, Love’s expressions to the team have been present. Outbreaks and cryptic messages from him have led to unnecessary drama which could derail a young team like the Cavs.

Continuing to project culture while letting Love continue his outbursts doesn’t make sense.

Adding that on top of the injuries he’s had with the decline in play and a buyout seems best for both parties. Love hasn’t been the right veteran for this rebuild and that’s okay. The memories that both parties have created are lost-lasting and a buyout would allow Love to compete once again as he enters the twilight of his career.

The only downfall is the money that Love would look to give back in a buyout which seems to be the reason why a buyout hasn’t occurred yet. Markkanen makes a buyout move likely as the frontcourt is loaded and there aren’t enough minutes to go around.

Overall, a full youth movement seems forthcoming. The Cavaliers’ plan of adding talent and figuring the fit out later has worked so far and they still have time to make those pressing decisions. Markkanen’s deal ends as Mobley is eligible for an extension and it shouldn’t affect any other rookie extensions that come over the coming years.

This move makes sense and is an aggressive one by Koby Altman that should have an interesting result.