Cavs trade tiers: Which players and picks are untouchable?

Cavs trade tiers: Would need a significant return

Caris LeVert. Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Love, Dean Wade

2022 First-Round Pick; Future firsts

This is the heart of where the Cavs will likely draw from to make deals this summer. These players are talented enough to be surefire parts of the rotation, but not so important to what the team is doing to make them off-limits.

Kevin Love and Dean Wade are unlikely trade pieces but could factor into certain kinds of deals. Love’s contract is north of $30 million and will be difficult to match up with incoming salary, but perhaps just the right kind of trade for another high-cost player makes Love movable. Wade is at the other end of the spectrum, making just $1.9 million on a non-guaranteed deal. He has proven his worth to the team, and it will be difficult to get back a valuable player for such a small salary slot.

Caris LeVert and Lauri Markkanen, on the other hand, are on the exact kind of mid-tier salaries that make them ideal candidates for a trade. LeVert makes $18.8 million next season in the final year of his deal, and if the Cavs re-sign Collin Sexton or draft a shooting guard then paying LeVert past next season becomes difficult; moving him now could recoup some of the value lost at the trade deadline when the front office brought him in.

Markkanen was a much more successful member of the Cavs last season, starting at the 3 in the popular “Tower City” lineup. Yet his size does bring limitations to the lineup and the Cavs probably need to find more of a combo forward to start at the 3 to truly lift their ceiling; could Markkanen be moved in such a deal?

Finally, the Cavs have the 14th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft they could absolutely trade on or after draft night, and access to two or three picks down the road to use in deals. If the Cavs are serious about pushing chips in now, their first-round picks would be possibilities in significant trades.