3 trades for Cavs to give Dylan Windler a second chance

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Dylan Windler, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

3 Dylan Windler trades for Cavs: Indiana Pacers

The simplest way for the Cleveland Cavaliers to find a home for Windler would be on one of the remaining teams with cap space to simply take him in. The Indiana Pacers are still sitting on a large amount of space, and are also a rebuilding team without a lot of depth at the 3; similar to Cleveland, their perimeter talented is congregated at the 1 and the 2.

Indiana here would take a flier on Windler for nothing; the Cavs wouldn’t have to pay to dump the salary, and the Pacers wouldn’t pay to add a young wing with upside. The 2023 second-round pick sent back is one the Pacers own from the San Antonio Spurs, and being protected 31-55 means it has close to a zero percent chance of conveying.

The Pacers still have around $30 million in cap space, so they would still have plenty in the tank to take on bad money during the year. Aaron Nesmith might get the first crack at starting at the 3, or they could slide over Chris Duarte or Bennedict Mathurin, but there is almost certainly room for some rotation minutes for Windler while the Pacers evaluate him.