The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a great position at the point guard position. Darius Garland just completed his third season in the league, just barely old enough to order alcohol, and made the All-Star Game this season. His star is bright and should only get brighter; we ranked him 10th at the position leaguewide.
The Cavs can pencil him in for 34-36 minutes per night running the point, but that still leaves more than a quarter of the game when they need someone else to run the offense. They had that last season in Ricky Rubio, but Rubio’s injury and subsequent trade out of town leave the position vacant. Rajon Rondo was better than nothing last season but hardly a difference-maker; it’s unlike he is back.
The Cavs have a need at backup point guard and will likely look to free agency to fill it. Which point guards could be options for them to sign this summer?
To fill that need the Cavs could look to the NBA Draft, but they seem linked to wings more than point guards with their first-round pick. Adding a guy in the second might be a great, low-cost idea, but they can’t rely on that player to be the full-season backup for a team planning to make the playoffs.
Thus their best avenue to adding a high-level backup point guard is in free agency. The free agent point guard class this summer is fairly robust, giving Cleveland plenty of options. The top-tier guys are off the table, guys like Kyrie Irving and Jalen Brunson; the Cavs can’t afford them and they don’t need them. They’re looking for a backup, not a starter.
The Cavs can sign a player using one of a handful of exceptions; the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception is the largest, starting just north of $10 million, but the smaller Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception and the Bi-Annual Exception are another couple of possibilities above the minimum. Here are five point guards available at a variety of price points that the Cavs could sign to back up Darius Garland.
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Tyus Jones
Tyus Jones has been connected to the Cavs frequently during the lead-up to free agency, just like he has likely been connected to every team that needs a point guard. He is the perfect kind of player to target in free agency, someone clearly better than his role and young enough that his new team will be securing him throughout his prime.
Jones has been backing up Ja Morant for the past few seasons, but his ability to defend with tenacity and shoot from outside has allowed him to play a substantial amount of minutes with Morant in dangerous two-point-guard lineups. Last season lineups with both on the court were a staggering +14.9 points per 100 possession (per Cleaning the Glass).
That’s exactly what the Cavs want. Ideally, they would replicate the chemistry they had last season with Ricky Rubio and find another point guard who can back up Darius Garland while also logging minutes on the court with him. Jones would do exactly that, and their combined shooting and ball-handling ability would stretch defenses on the perimeter that are also trying to contain bigs inside.
Jones may be looking for a starting job somewhere, but there are very few of those available and none of those teams are likely able to offer more than the mid-level exception, if that. In the event that Jones wants a high-minute backup role and is comfortable with a long-term offer starting at the midlevel, the Cavs should be fighting to get to the front of that line.
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Delon Wright
Darius Garland has grown into an offensive wizard, capable of nailing shots inside and out and spraying the ball in all directions to hit his teammates in stride. What he cannot do is get taller, and he will therefore always be a liability on defense. The question for Garland is whether he can become below average and thus help his team not have to carry a sieve.
What the Cavs could therefore use is a different look at point guard, a bigger top-notch defender who can run the offense but also body up opponents on defense. Enter Delon Wright, who played last season with the Atlanta Hawks and offered that same sort of alternative look behind Trae Young.
Wright, 6’5″ with a wide wingspan, is a talented defender because of his size and versatility. Even in a small role backing up Young last season he had one of the league’s best steal rates, interjecting into passing lanes with his long arms. On offense he is a steady force, able to make most of the needed passes and with a consistent outside shot (37.9 percent from 3-point range last season).
Similarly to Jones (or Rubio), Wright could back up Garland and play some minutes alongside him. Wright would run the point with bench lineups that are more spaced-out than the starting lineup, with Kevin Love at the 5, thus unlocking space for him to go to work inside. Wright could be in line for the mid-level exception or even a tough under it.
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Ricky Rubio
Everyone’s favorite point guard reunion is absolutely still on the table. The Cavs traded with the Timberwolves for Rubio last summer and he was a perfect addition, giving the Cavs 48 minutes of high-level point guard play and often playing, and thriving, alongside Garland. Rubio’s defense and passing filled in the gaps around Garland, and his career-best scoring season kept defenses honest.
Then Rubio went down 34 games into the season with a torn ACL, and the Cavs were never quite the same. At the NBA trade deadline the Cavs used Rubio’s salary to bring back Caris LeVert, and as Rubio hits unrestricted free agency this summer it is accordingly the Indiana Pacers who have Rubio’s Bird Rights.
The Cavs are reportedly still interested in a reunion with Rubio, but with Rubio likely out rehabbing until after the calendar flips to 2023, signing him becomes tricky. They could offer him a long-term deal at a strong number, something like the full mid-level exception, but then they would need to secure a third point guard who could back up Garland admirably for a few months.
Perhaps the Cavs draft a point guard or decide to play Caris LeVert at backup point guard to start the season. They could bring back Brandon Goodwin and let him run the point, or sign a veteran at the minimum to hold down the fort. The Cavs and Rubio could even work out a deal for a one-year make-good at the minimum or close to it, letting Rubio rehab with the Cavs as a veteran presence and allowing the Cavs to use a larger amount of money to go after another point guard.
Whatever the stopgap, by the end of the season the Cavs would hopefully have Rubio at full speed and the Cavs blitzing teams once again.
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Eric Bledsoe
The first two candidates on this list would be in line for the full mid-level exception, starting just north of $10 million per season. Ricky Rubio’s market is very up-in-the-air, but non-star players rehabbing a serious injury often get squeezed by the market. Yet even so it’s clear that with Eric Bledsoe we are now looking at players that could be available for the Bi-Annual Exception, which starts at $4.05 million or $8.3 million over two seasons.
Bledsoe’s value leaguewide has plummeted over the past few seasons, ever since the Milwaukee Bucks moved him to New Orleans in the Jrue Holiday trade. While he still is a rugged defender, his offensive game has tanked; back on the LA Clippers last season, where he began his career, he could muster just 9.9 points per game on 42.1 shooting from the field.
Bledsoe landed in Portland at midseason but sat out the remainder of the year and didn’t actually play a game for Rip City as he rehabbed an Achilles injury. With Portland needing to pay for a couple of new contracts for players and also looking to upgrade, it looks like Bledsoe could be on his way out; his $19.38 million deal for next season is guaranteed for just $3.9 million, so he will almost certainly be a free agent this summer.
He would bring defensive toughness to the backcourt and provide the secondary ball-handling that they are looking for. Cleveland will have to hope they can rehabilitate his outside shot and end up with a player worth more than his salary. At 32 Bledsoe may still have something left in the tank, or he could be on his way out. It’s worth a low-cost flier to find out.
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Raul Neto
For our final point guard option, we could have gone for a purely offense-first player, such as Patty Mills or Isaiah Thomas, but that doesn’t seem to be the direction this team is likely to go. Instead, the Cavs will almost certainly want a plus-defender backing up Garland; that’s been the common theme for all five options on the list.
Raul Neto is the version of that player who could be available for the minimum. He found a home in Washington the past two seasons, backing up Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie and starting 41 games across the two seasons when the starters were either hurt (Russ) or traded (Dinwiddie).
Neto is a career 36.6 percent 3-point shooter, but he hit only 29.2 percent last season; that’s the red flag and what will likely keep his market suppressed. That being said he is a steady hand and can facilitate the ball well enough. Where Neto is particularly helpful is on the defensive end; he plays hard every possession and has a robust steal rate. He’s the kind of player to bring in if the Cavs either sign Ricky Rubio and need a stop-gap, or decide to commit to Collin Sexton and Caris LeVert long-term and have less of a need for a high-level backup point guard.
The Cavs aren’t going to “run it back” with Rajon Rondo and Brandon Goodwin. They learned a lesson two seasons ago that you need a reliable backup point guard for when injuries strike, but their solution to that last season, Ricky Rubio, didn’t last the year. Now they enter another postseason knowing they need to address the situation with a reliable option; could it be one of these five players?