Cleveland Cavaliers: Lamar Stevens’ role is now clearer

Last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired forward Lauri Markkanen in a sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls. Although in that deal, most notably, Cleveland had to ship out Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers, who sent Derrick Jones Jr. and a protected first-round pick to the Bulls, who received a protected second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets from the Cavs, too.

It wasn’t ideal for Cleveland to lose Nance, who affected games in a variety of ways when healthy in recent seasons, but I do understand the rationale in acquiring Markkanen. The Cavaliers signed the then-restricted free agent to a four-year, $67 million deal, albeit with the last season of it guaranteed for $6, not $18 million, for context.

Markkanen should be an impactful floor spacer and shooter for the Wine and Gold in coming years, and he can create his own offense to some extent.

I would expect Markkanen to come off the bench, but he’ll still likely get a ton of minutes in games with his offensive abilities, and while he has had injury problems, when healthy, he can be a difference-maker. His presence will aid the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and others, too.

It again does sting a bit to lose Nance, who was a leadership presence and fan favorite as well, but Markkanen should be a big-time shooter, and he objectively is four years younger, at 24.

Along with that, although I’m not saying he is nearly the team defender of Nance, I do believe that Lamar Stevens, who proved to be a versatile defender last season, can do a commendable job against 3s and 4s.

And with Nance no longer around, and Cleveland needing to help players such as Markkanen and perhaps Kevin Love/others on the defensive end, it’s apparent to me that Stevens’ role just became clearer.

Stevens’ role for the Cavs is now clearer.

Last season, when Stevens was originally on a two-way deal following his pickup after the 2020 NBA Draft, one wouldn’t say he was a crucial offensive presence. Stevens had 4.1 points per outing in an average of 12.5 minutes, and in 40 appearances, he hit just four-of-25 from three-point land. That was a 16.0 percent clip; not ideal.

That said, he did show ability to create for himself some in the mid-range area, as he often did in a four-year collegiate career at Penn State, and his cutting feel improved as last year progressed.

And to add to that, while I get that he’s not a floor spacing presence, in lineups with Markkanen, Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, for example, his rim pressure can be impactful. That’s in instances giving Isaac Okoro a breather, I’d think.

Stevens converted 69.8 percent of his shot attempts in the restricted area as a rookie, per NBA.com’s shooting data, to drive that home.

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In any case, with Cleveland’s acquisition of Markkanen, as we alluded to, and with Nance no longer in the rotation, Stevens’ role has become clearer and he should have more of a case to get minutes, as KJG’s Josh Cornelissen demonstrated.

Stevens again is a player that showed he’s more than capable of holding his own against opposing wing scoring options last year when he was regularly involved, such as when Nance was injured, and Stevens can legitimately wall up/contain driving 4s.

Along with that, while I wouldn’t expect it as much, Lamar having better fluidity than originally anticipated coming into last season seemed to make him viable against opposing primary playmakers for stretches, even. So that aids his case as a versatile rotational wing defender to deploy for spurts/stretches, too.

Plus, while I’m not saying he’s nearly the team defender of Nance, who was among the league leaders in deflections and steals per game last season, Stevens has good rotational awareness, and he flashed rotational rim protection even. A block rate of 2.3 percent last season for him was impressive, as was his 6.9 rebounds per-36 minutes.

So, to reiterate, although I’m not suggesting Stevens will be an every game-type contributor, with others in the fold/shooting limitations, it’s objectively reasonable to see him fairly regularly receive minutes at the 3/4, in particular. Markkanen/Evan Mobley could be at the 5 at times with him, in that regard.

We’ll have to see in relation to Dylan Windler, and if Cedi Osman can turn things around, but the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Stevens’ defensive pliability, gritty mindset, finishing/rim pressure and transition abilities can help Cleveland in rotational minutes. That’s in the event he sticks around; Stevens’ deal from here is non-guaranteed, but it seems that he very well could.

And with Markkanen in the fold and no longer Nance, Stevens could realistically be a nice player to mesh in lineups with him from a defensive perspective, and to take some pressure off Okoro a bit.