The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the 2022 NBA Draft in a very familiar and yet very new position. They will pick in the lottery for the fifth consecutive year, but at just 14; this is the last lottery pick for an ascending team, rather than one of a sequence of moves by a rebuilding squad. The Cavs’ arrow is pointing up.
In addition to the 14th pick, the Cavs also have the 39th pick and the 58th pick, and in a draft where the talent pool is so flat, they could still uncover helpful players at both slots. Armed with those three selections, the Cavs have to both evaluate a wide range of prospects, they have to navigate a simply insane trade market to explore options to trade up, down and out.
The 2022 NBA Draft is tonight. What do you need to know about how to watch, what picks the Cavs have and which players they might take?
There has already been a flurry of activity since the season ended a week ago – yes, it was only one week ago that the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics for their fourth title in eight years. The Cavs and the other 28 teams will seek to emulate the Warriors’ run of success by any means necessary, including trades and draft-day reaches.
Let’s get you prepared for what is to come tonight. We’ll start with “Draft 101” containing all of the important details, and then break down the Cavs’ options at each pick. We’ll end with a prediction on which players the Cavs take with each selection.
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Draft 101
The 2022 NBA Draft is tonight, Thursday June 23rd, at 8:00pm ET. It will air on ESPN, which you can watch via our partners over at Fubo.tv.
The first round will contain 30 picks, and the Cavs’ selection lands just about squarely in the middle. If you like to experience the picks as they are announced, you will want to avoid Twitter for the evening — or at the very least avoid Woj and Shams, as they have been announcing picks a few minutes beforehand in recent years.
The Orlando Magic have the first overall pick and are expected to take Jabari Smith Jr., and the first three picks will likely be Smith, Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren. From there players like Jaden Ivey and Keegan Murray are likely to go next, and from there the possibilities branch out into innumerable tributaries.
Here is the full draft order for the lottery leading into the Cavs’ pick at No. 14:
- Orlando Magic
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Houston Rockets
- Sacramento Kings
- Detroit Pistons
- Indiana Pacers
- Portland Trail Blazers
- New Orleans Pelicans
- San Antonio Spurs
- Washington Wizards
- New York Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Charlotte Hornets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Cavs at No. 14
This will be the first time in Cleveland Cavaliers history that they will select a player with the 14th pick in the NBA Draft. There is hope from history that the Cavs could get a really good player even at 14; Clyde Drexler himself went 14th, as did older stars such as Hal Greer and Chet Walker and newer ones like Peja Stojakovic and Bam Adebayo.
In recent seasons the 14th pick has seemed to yield more exciting young players than not. Moses Moody went last season to the Golden State Warriors and looks like a solid starter on the wing. Michael Porter Jr. is a dynamic offensive player despite his injury issues, and Bam Adebayo is an All-Star big man manning the paint. Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford look like busts, but there is still time for them too.
A variety of players are being mocked to the Cavs, and thankfully they tend to all be wings of some kind, which the Cavs to desperately need. Those players include:
- Malaki Branham, Ohio State
- Ousmane Dieng, New Zealand Breakers
- Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
- Jalen Williams, Sana Clara
Will one of the above players hear their name called at pick No. 14 tonight? Time will tell, for all of us.
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Cavs at No. 39
The Cavs’ second pick of the night will come near the top of the second round of the NBA Draft, as Cleveland makes a selection using a pick that originally belonged to the San Antonio Spurs. Given how uncertain the middle of the draft will be, players who many expect to be first-rounders will be on the board at 39. There is a great chance of the Cavs getting a player high on their board.
This pick is one that the Cavs have had quite a few times throughout team history. The first time around in 1974 they got a solid role player in Kevin Restani, a big out of San Francisco. Since then they picked at 39 three times in the 1990s, drafting three players who all totaled just 205 career games between them: Jimmy Oliver, Donny Marshall and A.J. Bramlett.
Other teams have managed to find some success at this slot. Al Attles was the 39th pick in the 1960 draft and had a Hall of Fame career playing for the Warriors as a multipurpose point guard. Much more recently, 2021 NBA champion Khris Middleton went 39th to the Detroit Pistons in 2012. Two years later Jerami Grant, just traded last night to the Portland Trail Blazers, went 39th to Philadelphia.
The uncertainty of even who will be selecting where from 20 to 40 makes predicting the Cavs’ pick nearly impossible. Players such as Christian Braun, Kennedy Chandler, John Butler, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins have all been mocked to the Cavs at No. 39. If the Cavs do anything other than select a wing at No. 14 that has to be the choice at 39, but a wing at 14 gives them some leeway to address the backup point guard position or swing for the fences with a high-upside player like Baldwin.
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Cavs at No. 58
Historically, a pick at the very end of the draft has a miniscule chance of returning much value. Only 24 players drafted 58th have even played a minute in the league, and only eight reached 100 games for their careers. It’s certainly a lean group.
Kurt Rambis is certainly the headliner of the group, a big drafted in 1980 by the New York Knicks who found his way onto the Showtime Lakers as a backup and parlayed that into a long coaching career. Henry Bibby’s son Mike had a much longer NBA career, but the point guard still played 675 games in the league. Tom Owens was a journeyman that played for nine different playoffs teams.
A few players picked recently have shown some promise. Paul Reed went 58th to the Philadelphia 76ers two years ago and has been an analytical darling, and may emerge as the team’s backup center this year. Similarly Jericho Sims was a raw center out of Texas that the Knicks took last season who showed some flashes down the stretch.
The Cavs can hold onto this pick if someone they really like drops, perhaps Keon Ellis or Dereon Seabron. Another very strong option is to go for a stash candidate, taking a swing on a player like Matteo Spagnolo of Italy, or Karlo Matkovic of Serbia. One popular choice among fans is Isaiah Mobley from USC, the brother of Evan Mobley.
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Could Cavs move the pick?
It’s absolutely possible that the Cavs coud look to trade the pick, and there are a number of options available for them if they do. If a player they like is falling during the middle of the lottery they could package a future pick or a player such as Caris LeVert to move up. Targets could be Dyson Daniels from the G League Ignite or Bennedict Mathurin of Arizona.
On the flip side, the Cavs could trade down. There are many teams behind the Cavs who are looking to trade up; if the Cavs can add a second pick or even a rotation player from a team desperate to leap into the late lottery, there is a great chance a player they like will still be available later in the first round. Here are three trade-down scenarios we looked at recently.
The final option would be to trade out of the draft entirely. While Jerami Grant is off the table, other players rumored to be of interest to the Cavs include Aaron Gordon, OG Anunoby, Harrison Barnes and Gordon Hayward. Could the Cavs see an upgrade on the market they like enough to pull the trigger? Unless there is a slam dunk move there are compelling reasons to keep the pick at take the best prospect at 14, but they should also do their due diligence just in case another team gets desperate.
Cavs’ NBA Draft Preview: Prediction
Predicting what will happen tonight is a fool’s errand, although it is certainly fun to try. It feels like this year’s draft will be especially full of teams trading up, down and all around the draft board. Ian Malcolm’s chaos theory applies to dinosaurs and to the 2022 NBA Draft.
That being said, here are our predictions for what will happen tonight. Despite a lot of rumors and phone calls, the Cavs will ultimately stay put at pick No. 14. AJ Griffin will fall all the way to 12 but not quite to them, and their options there will be as expected. Despite the availability of frequent mock draft partners in Ochai Agbaji and Malaki Branham, the Cavs take Jalen Williams out of Santa Clara as a do-it-all wing who can plug in immediately in the rotation.
The insanity continues from there, with frequent trades and quite a few surprise reaches late in the first round. That leads to Christian Braun of Kansas falling to the Cavs at pick No. 39. Finally, the 58 they elect for a draft-and-stash player and take a combo guard in Matteo Spagnolo out of Italy. One prediction with confidence is that the player taken 58th will not be on the 15-man roster next season, be that one a two-way or playing overseas.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have improved their team mightily through the draft the past few years, but have not had much luck outside of the Top 10 picks. Can they shake that trend and add multiple difference-makers at 14 and 39? Do they ultimately join the fray and make a trade? Let’s all tune in tonight and find out.