The Cleveland Cavaliers had a heck of a turnaround this season, and improved their win total by 22 games, en route to the team finishing with 44 wins. Cleveland had its highest win total with that mark involving a LeBron James-less team since 1998.
The Cavaliers did not end up making the postseason, as they slipped to the play-in tournament, and lost in both of their chances to then to the Brooklyn Nets and then Atlanta Hawks.
Even still, injuries were no small thing for the Cavaliers this season, and while they can’t just be satisfied with how much of the season went, Cleveland did had a successful 2021-22 campaign, based on expectations coming in. Nobody thought the Cavs would have that win total this year, and with that in mind, there should be a sense of optimism for next season.
Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen both made the All-Star Game for the first time, Evan Mobley narrowly missed out on winning Rookie of the Year, and the team had a resurgent season from Kevin Love, who was second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting. Other guys such as Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens showed positive signs, too, and I firmly believe Lauri Markkanen should be much more comfortable next season with his role.
Plus, Cleveland does have the #14 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft still, which was a silver lining to not making the postseason. The Cavaliers, with how things look to shaping up, could very well have Collin Sexton back, and hopefully fully recovered and seemingly signed to a long term extension, too, but time will tell.
Generally, though, the Cavs look to be in a nice position to build on this now-past 2021-22 season, and the draft should help there, and seemingly the mid-level exception, ideally via the non-taxpayer MLE of roughly $10.2 million. Rumored free agency targets, relating to backup point guards, for example, appear to be Ricky Rubio, who played really well for the team prior to his injury, to go with Delon Wright and Tyus Jones.
We’ll have to see what plays out over the course of the offseason, where hopefully Cleveland can acquire more meaningful depth.
All of that being said, it’s understandable that the Cavaliers have also been seemingly linked to the likes of guys such as Harrison Barnes, Bojan Bogdanovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Tobias Harris, Gordon Hayward, Jerami Grant, among others as potential trade targets. That’s per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com in a recent podcast appearance with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype on Scotto’s podcast, so we’ll keep monitoring that sort of thing.
As far as another hypothetical target, while there haven’t been reports of it involving the Cavs, it was fairly alarming that Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report reported how OG Anunoby could seemingly become available via trade.
Fischer reported how despite Anunoby not formally requesting a trade or anything currently, he was “dissatisfied” at times with his role in 2021-22, and that Scottie Barnes emerged as one of Toronto’s key playmakers, with Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam as other prominent players in that realm.
Granted, Fischer’s report did express how the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers are the two linked to Anunoby, and how with Utah, Anunoby could essentially be a key part of a return in a possible Rudy Gobert trade, and that Toronto has long deserved a rim protecting 5.
Fischer’s report also mentioned how Toronto was at one point very interested in Jarrett Allen’s services last offseason, when he was given a new deal by the Cavaliers, of course. And I wouldn’t think Allen is going anywhere anytime soon.
But even without the Cavaliers being linked to Anunoby concretely yet, as far as reports, one couldn’t blame them for making a call to Toronto about his availability.
The Cavs would be wise to call the Raptors about a potential Anunoby trade.
Anunoby is again not a player that’s requested a trade yet, and I’m not jumping the gun here in suggesting he did, nor did Fischer. Still, based on Fischer’s report, maybe he could become available.
If he were to become a hypothetical target, that’d be a heck of a two-way wing acquisition.