Who is left for Cavs at point guard after Day 1 of Free Agency?

Cavs point guard options after Day 1 of Free Agency: Ricky Rubio

Last season the pairing of Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio was a resounding success. In fact, all aspects of the Rubio addition were excellent: he held down the fort when Garland missed time, he proved to be an excellent pairing with him in two-guard lineups, and he was a positive influence on the locker room and instantly a beloved teammate. That’s why it hurt so bad when he tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season.

The NBA is a business and the Cavs used Rubio’s salary to acquire Caris LeVert from the Indiana Pacers. Rubio can now sign back with the Cavs, but in doing so will lose his Bird Rights, which the Cavs transferred to the Pacers when they traded Rubio.

The consequences of that won’t change this season, but if Rubio were to sign a one-year deal to rehab and hopefully help late in the year, the Cavs would be limited in how much they could re-sign him for the following summer. They could give him a modest raise or would be forced to dip into cap space or an available exception.

That’s a ways off, however. The real implication of re-signing Rubio, which would obviously be a positive locker room move and provide another veteran voice to this young roster, is that they will still need a backup point guard until Rubio returns. Do they trust that job to Brandon Goodwin? Otherwise, they will need to bring in another outside point guard, be that the aforementioned Neto or someone like Goran Dragic or D.J. Augustin at the minimum.