Solid and experienced veteran
Barnes was drafted by the Cavs’ rival back in the day in the Golden State Warriors. He was part of that first Warriors title squad that beat the Cavs in the 2015 NBA Finals. That changed finally in 2016 when the Cavs made an incredible comeback and won the championship. After that series, Barnes moved on to the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent when the Warriors signed Kevin Durant.
In 2018 he was traded to the Sacramento Kings and has been there since. He’s coming into his last season with the Kings as he’ll be a free agent next year. The Cavs have a very young team outside of a few veterans like Kevin Love. Acquiring a couple of more experienced players at this point would be beneficial. Barnes has been on championship clubs and is a playoff-savvy player.
Adding Barnes to an up-and-coming Cavs team would be a real boost to the team next season. We’ll discuss more next about why that is.
Consistent scorer
If you want a consistent scorer then look no further than Barnes. He has a career average of 14 points per game, and he averaged closer to 17 points last season with the Kings. He’s been a starter for them now for several seasons. He pretty much has carried his squad for years and helped make the Kings halfway respectable.
Last season he rarely scored fewer than double digits on a nightly basis. He scored in double figures in 65 games last season. He’ll get you a half dozen rebounds a night as well.
Last season Cleveland tried putting a lineup of three big men including Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen on the floor. While it might have its advantages, they weren’t getting that scoring from a player like Markkanen on regular basis like Barnes would give them.
Last season of his contract
Barnes will become a free agent after the season. He’s due over $18 million this next season and then is an unrestricted free agent. The Cavs can negotiate with Barnes all season on a new extension, or if they catch wind of a big fish with interest next summer they can let Barnes walk / execute a sign-and-trade. It gives them flexibility, which Markkanen’s remaining three years does not.
The Cavs are in need of a player like Barnes a player that could provide experience on the court and scoring which at times was really a struggle to find in stretches of games last season for the Wine and Gold. This would be the right time to make the trade for Barnes. The Cavs have plenty of players that would be appealing to other teams like the Kings. The Cavs are ready to contend and trading for Barnes just makes a lot of sense. Who Cleveland would have to part ways with would become the key question in this potential trade. Let’s take a look at these trade proposals next.