The Cleveland Cavaliers are preparing for the upcoming NBA Draft on Thursday, June 23.
They have the No. 14 pick first up. Do they hold onto the pick, or do they consider trading it for more picks? Or do they use it to trade for veterans already in the league?
The Cavs also have several other potential trade chips that could be attractive to other teams, and they could again gather more picks, or even move up in the draft to grab a player the team has an eye on, in theory.
Let’s go through some of the team’s best options in trade pieces when examining the offseason in general. We’ll begin with the No. 14 pick.
#5: The No. 14 pick
The Cavs need to find either a scoring guard or a forward player that can score. Would the team be better off trading the pick to find a veteran that could help the Cavaliers?
There are players in the draft that the Cavs could take that would help but would they help immediately? There is always a learning curve for the drafted player.
This is the first time since 2018 that the Cavs aren’t drafting in the top five. The team has recently selected Evan Mobley and Darius Garland to help the team get close to contending in the playoffs. Cleveland has to decide if the prospects they are analyzing as we speak are worth taking a chance on. Taking a player outside of the top 10 can sometimes be a big game of chance.
Players like Malaki Branham, a 6’5″ guard from Ohio State that can self-create and can shoot the three-pointer, is on the Cavs radar. So is reportedly Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, a guard that averaged almost 20 points last season and was the Big Ten Player of the Year.
If Cleveland does keep the pick there have been some historically great players taken at that spot. NBA star and Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers back in 1983 at No. 14 so you can find stars at that position.
But trading the No. 14 pick could be in the team’s best interest. We’ll have to wait and see what happens on June 23. The team would have to make the pick initially, but could trade its rights quickly following that, as an aside.