Cavs have a whopping 5 options to start at shooting guard

Cavs options to start at shooting guard: Caris LeVert

Caris LeVert was acquired at last season’s Trade Deadline for some substantial draft capital and Ricky Rubio, who came back to the Cavs this summer. He battled some injuries once he arrived, which limited his games and his minutes when he did play, but he started 10 of his 19 games with Cleveland to close out the year.

That level of investment in LeVert from this front office speaks to his value in their eyes, and even more so if an extension is agreed to before the season begins. That would likely indicate he has the fast-track on starting at shooting guard coming into the season.

More so, LeVert’s on-ball ability and decent passing skills make him the secondary creator this lineup will need, especially if Evan Mobley doesn’t take an immediate leap. Starting Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen shrink the starting lineup’s ball movement abilities, so starting LeVert over lower usage wings might make sense.

The other side of the coin is that he was a defensive sieve last season, is a mediocre shooter at best and isn’t a good enough playmaker for it to be worth taking the ball out of Darius Garland’s hands. If Collin Sexton isn’t back, it might be enough to push LeVert into a Super-Sub role as the team’s Sixth Man, where the spacing on the bench from lineups with Kevin Love at the 5 let him stretch his wings a bit more.