3 trade candidates for Cavs using Disabled Player Exception

The Cleveland Cavaliers have sunk below .500 for the first time since the first week of the season, losing five straight games against top-tier competition. In the midst of the slide, they received the bad news that their leading scorer, Collin Sexton, will be out for the season with knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

What the last few weeks have demonstrated is that while Sexton’s impact may have been overrated by his scoring numbers, his shot creation is severely missed by a team that does not have any wing creators to step up and fill that gap. Replacing Sexton will have to come by committee, from Darius Garland improving in his third season to Evan Mobley taking on responsibility as this draft’s best rookie once he returns.

Do the Cavs have any other options available to them? There are a few, and one of the key ones is something called a “Disabled Player Exception.” This exception is granted by the league to teams who lose a player for the remainder of the season. If the Cavs apply and receive this exception, they could use it to add another player to the roster despite being at the roster limit.

Collin Sexton is out for the year. If the Cavs receive the Disabled Player Exception, what trade candidates are out there who fit into it?

The Cavs should absolutely apply for this and seek to use it, but the actual details make it a more difficult proposition than it may seem at first glance. The Disabled Player Exception, or “DPE” allows a team to sign, claim or trade for a player up to an amount equal to 50 percent of the disabled player’s salary or the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception, whichever number is lower. Sexton, in the last year of his rookie contract as the No. 8 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, is making just $5.04 million this season.

That limits the Cavs to signing a player to a deal at or below about $2.52 million, not a lot to offer. The Cavs could trade for a player, but that player would have to make less than $2.52 million and be in the final year of their contract. Most players who fit that bill are on teams trying to win, and therefore aren’t likely to be available for a low price.

Let’s try to find a few options, though, as the Cavs will certainly be canvassing the league. It becomes quickly apparent that there aren’t any options available to replace Sexton’s shot creation, not even in a minor way; any player halfway decent at creating a shot is making more than the Cavs can handle.

The path instead must be to get more shooting on the court, providing space for Garland the this team’s bigs to operate inside. Who might the Cavs look to trade for to fill that roll? Let’s look at three options who might-possibly-just-maybe-could fit the bill: inexpensive, available shooters.