3 draft day trades for Cavs that would be slam dunk moves

The Portland Trail Blazers don’t want to stay in the lottery. They have a fringe Top-10 player in his prime in Damian Lillard; you don’t waste whatever years he has left trying to develop teenagers. They’re going to push now to build a playoff team for this next season.

That means the 7th pick is very much in play for the highest bidder. If Jerami Grant ends up in Sacramento or Memphis or Phoenix then the Blazers could look to a deal like this where they add two solid, reasonably-paid veterans in Caris LeVert and Lauri Markkanen.

For their part, the Cavs would get an awesome backcourt complement to Darius Garland, a tall guard with elite defensive chops and amazing passing vision. Daniels is still a work-in-progress in creating his own shot, but playing next to either Garland or Collin Sexton would give him a very gentle learning curve.

Daniels is fifth on my Cavs-specific Big Board, and if he is available at No. 7 the Cavs should absolutely try to leap up and take him. Add to that the fact that Bledsoe can fill a role on an expiring deal and Hart is a really solid piece to add to this core, and this deal would be costly but the right move, even if the Blazers ultimately required a future first in addition. Here the Cavs retain the 14th pick for another wing or TyTy Washington.

As we said in the opener, the Cavs probably stay put. But if they don’t there are a number of partners the Cavs could dance with to move up or down the board, either snagging a high-level prospect to add to this core or moving down to get multiple pieces. Either way, there are multiple avenues to turning this draft into a slam dunk.