Cavs Player Grades: Lamar Stevens has a promising Year 2

Stevens’ overall play this season

I recognize that Stevens needs to show he can be a viable catch-and-shoot threat, ideally, to be a near-every night contributor, with others involved in the Cavaliers’ rotation. He again was sub-28 percent from three in Year 2, and that’s the glaring area of focus, one would assume, for him.

However, there’s plenty for him to build on from this season, as Stevens showed some encouraging creation abilities as a driver, and some of his mid-range play off-the-bounce gave the Cavaliers a lift.

From what we saw from him this season, even more so, it’s reassuring that Stevens will be on a team-friendly deal from here with Cleveland, with the rest of his deal non-guaranteed for the next two seasons. That’s also with a 2023 club option.

Now, I can’t say definitively if Stevens will stick around, but he’s shown far more than Dylan Windler thus far, and Cedi Osman‘s had his share of inconsistencies, even though I thought he had some of a raw deal near the end of this season.

In any case, with what Stevens showed with more opportunities in 2021-22, he helped his case, I thought at least, for more chances in the Cavs rotation next season. Despite his net rating being minus-1.3 on the season overall, some of that realistically had to do with other injuries to key contributors, and the teams’ slide post-All-Star. And I think next year, we’ll see that mark for Stevens be far better, with him heading into his third season.

Stevens’ 2021-22 overall grade: B+

For the year in general, I think he turned a corner, and I’m going with a B+ grade; I just can’t go in the A range.