From a defensive standpoint, in particular, it was tough that the Cleveland Cavaliers had to end up trading Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers as a piece involved in ultimately acquiring Lauri Markkanen. That was from the Chicago Bulls, with those two players being the most notable components to that sign-and-trade.
On a positive note, I do fully understand why the Cavaliers ended up conducting the deal, and Nance/his representation and the Cavs did reportedly work together in getting him to a more established winning situation.
Nance was so grateful for his time with the Cavaliers, and in a report/interview with Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required), he stressed that and how glad he was to play for the same club his father, Larry Nance, once did and was a star for. That was refreshing.
Nonetheless, as to the reasoning from the Cavs’ side, why they acquired Markkanen was evident.
He’s proven his abilities as a quality shooter, and while his production did dip a bit overall last season even before Chicago’s trade acquisition of Nikola Vucevic, Markkanen was hitting his threes. On the season, he knocked in 40.2 percent of his 5.8 three-point attempts per contest, and his catch-and-shoot prowess, including with some movement shooting, could really make a difference for Cleveland.
I would more so expect Markkanen to be a go-to bench guy, but he’ll get a bunch of playing time still, and he’ll make his presence felt. We’ll hopefully see that, at least, as the team signed the former restricted free agent via four-year, $67 million deal. The last year of that is only guaranteed for $6 million, though.
So for next season, what might be a best, and on the flip side, worst-case scenario for Markkanen?
We’ll dive into those here, beginning with the best-case scenario for the stretch big in 2021-22.