Cleveland Cavaliers: The 2 biggest X-factors in 2021-22

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Players are introduced before a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

The 2021-22 season is coming up for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are set to begin training camp next Monday, Sep. 27. The Cavaliers’ preseason slate will tipoff on Oct. 5 at the Chicago Bulls, and they’ll have five of those outings before the regular season eventually gets underway on Oct. 20 at the Memphis Grizzlies.

After it was a relatively quiet free agency period, which was to be expected, Cleveland at the end of last month made a deal via sign-and-trade in acquiring Lauri Markkanen from the Chicago Bulls.

The Cavs most notably traded Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of that deal, which did sting a bit, but in order to bring in needed shooting, I understand where Cleveland was coming from. Nance and the team reportedly were on the same page in getting him to a more set winning situation via trade, too.

Along with the Markkanen move, Cleveland acquired Ricky Rubio via trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves a few hours before the 2021 NBA Draft, which should aid the Cavaliers from a backup 1 perspective. Plus, Rubio’s leadership should help Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Markkanen and others.

In relation to other moves, not involving training camp signings in this sense, the Cavs signed Kevin Pangos of the EuroLeague via two-year, team-friendly deal (with the first year fully-guaranteed).

And while we’ll have to see if he can turn things around, Cleveland signed Denzel Valentine for via two-year, albeit with the first year partially-guaranteed and the second non-guaranteed. Perhaps a change of scenery could help Valentine.

As far as the team in general though, we know what Garland, Sexton, and the likes of Jarrett Allen, and I’d imagine Rubio, for instance, should provide.

#3 overall pick Evan Mobley needs to further progress as a perimeter shooter in coming years, and maybe could as next season moves along. But I’d still think he could be fairly capable there on catch-and-shoots and/or some pick-and-pops, and he’ll be an impact defender, passer and can create for himself off-the-bounce still.

So for the Wine and Gold next season, it does lead me to ask, who are the X-factors, then?

We’ll take a look at the two biggest X-factors for the Cavs in 2021-22 here.

We’ll get into #1 next.