Cavs not looking to trade Isaac Okoro this offseason is the right call

I’ll admit, through two seasons, there’s been ups and downs for Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro. He’s typically held his own on the defensive end, and for a player in his first two seasons, with such difficult defensive workloads, I give him his credit.

There’s some matchups against bigger wings/3s or elite point guards where Okoro is prone to taking his lumps; I’m not disputing that. He is still only 21, so that was prone to being the case.

What has been more of the issue with him, objectively, is the other end. Okoro came into the NBA pretty raw on offense, and through two seasons, has had 9.6 and 8.8 points per game, in what was first in 32.4 and during last season, 29.6 minutes per outing.

He has shown some flashes as a driver, been capable in transition and did show some positive signs as a catch-and-shoot player in the second half of last season to lead to him hitting 35.0 percent of his deep attempts in Year 2.

The problem is, while he is still very young, if Okoro is a player that is going to possibly be again getting starter-type minutes, he has to show more offensively.

To that point, although he’ll be an older rookie and is not the exact same type of player, involving skill set, Cleveland drafting Ochai Agbaji last week did naturally bring on some questions regarding Okoro’s potential outlook. That’s with them both set to primarily seem to be off-ball guys, but also players that can be impact defenders.

That said, while long term, or maybe later on next season, Okoro could in theory be a possible trade candidate, Cleveland is not reportedly looking to trade Isaac this offseason, even with Agbaji pick, per Matt Moore of Action Network.

That approach with Okoro by the Cavs, for this offseason at least, is probably the right call.

As we alluded to, Okoro needs to show tangible improvements offensively next season. He did hit 38.0 percent from three in his last 40 games of last season, but that was on 2.0 attempts per outing, hardly a notable volume. On the season, his volume was only 2.3 per game, down from 3.2 the year prior, when he shot 29.0 percent from three overall.

Okoro is not much of a shot creator in set offense at this juncture, either. And with others in the fold, even more so if Collin Sexton is back, which I believe he will be, Okoro’s potential for pick-and-roll opportunities might be even less next season.

To Moore’s report about the Agbaji selection, it is wise that the Cavaliers are not seemingly factoring in that as some rationale for maybe trading Okoro this offseason, however.

Yes, Agbaji is a prospect that hit 40.7 percent from three in his last season with Kansas, and had 18.8 points per game in his senior campaign. That three-point shooting clip was on 6.5 attempts per outing, and he connected on 37.7 percent from three on 6.9 attempts per game as a junior with the Jayhawks. He could really help Cleveland’s perimeter shooting.

The 6-foot-5 Agbaji is not a player I’d deem to be much of a shot creator, either, as an aside. Despite that, he is very athletic, a smart off-ball cutter, has shown marketed growth as a movement shooter in the past two seasons at Kansas, and he could be a quality defender on the perimeter. His 6-foot-10 wingspan should help him there, too, if he gets legit playing experience next season.

Okoro is still a player that is again, only 21 years old, and his first two seasons were essentially COVID-19-affected seasons, circling back, though. So the team shouldn’t just give up on the dude, and I’m not suggesting that they seemed to be looking to deal him before next year, given the Agbaji pick, and with others involved, such as seemingly Lamar Stevens.

But, it is reasonable to say that in the early portion of his third season to come, Okoro does need to show more progression offensively. That we do know, when it comes to his possible long-term outlook with the Cavaliers, and whether he could maybe be extended by the team in coming years. Next offseason, he could be extension-eligible, in that realm.

In any case, we’ll have to see what plays out with Okoro next season, and in theory, if Agbaji can be competent defensively for stretches, and the catch-and-shoot play translates, he could potentially affect Okoro’s outlook considerably.

But it’ll take some stretch of time into next season before that could be the case, still, in my estimation.

Maybe Okoro could be a deadline trade candidate next season, or be a trade candidate next offseason, alternatively.

Taking all of that into account, Moore’s report about Cleveland not looking to trade Okoro this offseason was good to see, to me, even with the Agbaji pick, however. And they could feasibly play in some lineups together, anyhow.