Pros and cons of rumored Cavs trade with Hornets for Hayward

Rumored Cavs trade for Hayward: Pros for the Cavs

Gordon Hayward is a very talented basketball player, one who has seen success at every stop in his career. He has averaged a career-best 17.6 points per game while in Charlotte the past two seasons as a wing creator with size; at 6’7″ he can play at the 3 or even 4 and provide shot-making and passing with the ball in his hands.

Plugging in Hayward at the 3 would not hurt this team’s spacing, but in fact would improve it. He has hit 37.1 percent of his career 3-pointers and 40.2 percent with the Hornets. Starting Hayward at the 3 would replace Lauri Markkanen’s shooting while also adding the on-ball creation this team desperately needs, allowing Darius Garland to play off-ball.

Hayward is a stout defender as well, ranking in the 80th percentile at his position last season in Defensive EPM (Estimated Plus-Minus) with smart positioning for steals and help rotations and the strength to hold up one-on-one against larger combo forwards. In short, he would bring nearly all of the benefits of Markkanen and Caris LeVert with few of their flaws.

Losing Kevin Love would hurt, especially after his strong season last year. Yet the Cavs do have something of a ready-made replacement in Markkanen, who could shift to a “Sixth Man” role of his own backing up both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen and providing that stretch-big spacing that Love brought this year.