Two takeaways from Cavs Caris LeVert trade with the Pacers

Takeaway #2: LeVert trade seems to set core in stone

Caris LeVert at 27 years old has just a season left on his contract after this year. Given the draft capital it took to acquire LeVert, the thought would be that the Cavs expect to sign LeVert to a long-term deal when that opportunity comes, and will this coming offseason.

With that in mind, the current core seems to be put in place. Looking at the Cavs’ payroll, Jarrett Allen’s new deal has already kicked in. Darius Garland is extension-eligible this coming offseason and with the season he’s had, one would assume he/his represenation could/would demand max money.

Collin Sexton and the Cavs couldn’t agree on an extension this past offseason and the thought is that they’ll be able to agree on a deal during this one, but again, we’ll have to see, as with the LeVert acquisition, his role could change relating to starting/coming off the bench, clearly.

From there, however, the Cavs also have Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Love, and Cedi Osman’s contracts on the books as well. Lastly, players like Isaac Okoro will have extension talks soon, one would imagine, and once that point arrives, Evan Mobley should demand max money as well down the line.

With the amount of youth on the team, first-round draft picks shouldn’t be as valuable to the team with few minutes to go around. The Cavaliers will always have the opportunity to package players and picks in moves that would sacrifice depth for more star power. Regardless of future moves, the young players we see having success on the team now are players that should remain on the team for the next several years.

The next step for the team should be continuing to find those gems like Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade using late-round picks and free agency. Stevens and Wade were both originally undrafted two-way players, to that point.