Regrading the Cavs’ entire 2021 offseason move by move

Regrading the Cavs’ entire 2021 offseason: Ricky Rubio trade

It’s difficult to grade the trade for Ricky Rubio last summer. The week of the NBA Draft the Cavs sent a second-round pick along with Taurean Prince to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Rubio, a well-known player who has oscillated between budding star and injured unknown throughout his career. Now, as a veteran, he was simply a question mark.

That question was answered resoudingly last season, as Rubio proved to be the key to unlocking the very best this Cavaliers roster had to offer. From his off-court experience and levity to his on-court passing and defense, Rubio’s impact on the Cavs was undeniable. It was a slam dunk of a trade.

Then injury struck, and Rubio tore his ACL. Suddenly the Cavs were stuck without a backup point guard, a problem that became even worse when Darius Garland missed time and Kevin Pangos proved unplayable (more on him later). It’s impossible to predict injuries exactly, but the Cavs knew when they traded for Rubio that he has a long injury history.

Having Rubio’s contract on the books at least allowed them to match salary in a trade, and so the Cavs moved Rubio and some picks for…Caris LeVert, which thus far has been something akin to a disaster of a move, spending some of their assets on a player who isn’t very scaleable into a supporting role on a really good team.

When we re-graded this deal a few months ago, we slapped a “B” on it. Rubio was awesome when he played, but his loss really hurt the Cavs as well. That will be amended up slightly, as clearly their time together motivated the Cavs to re-sign Rubio this summer, and Rubio was clearly amenable to doing so. The fact that their time together made a reunion possible adds a little to this as well.

New Grade: B+