The Cleveland Cavaliers boosted their team’s standing in the league by trading for Donovan Mitchell, and their young core is now set up to compete for years to come. While the Cavs paid a lot to bring in the All-Star guard, everyone agrees that the surprise trade was well worth it.
While much of the conversation in the aftermath of the trade has been about filling the final starting spot, there is a related yet separate personnel issue that absolutely has to be addressed, and ideally before the season begins. The Cavs need to trade Caris LeVert.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a talented wing on their team who doesn’t fit. The Cavs absolutely need to trade Caris LeVert, and they need to do it now.
Caris LeVert is a talented, offensive-minded wing who cut his teeth with the Brooklyn Nets and came to the Cavaliers by way of Indiana. At this past season’s trade deadline the Cavs sent a first-round pick and a premium second to add LeVert to the team, at which point injuries derailed his integration into the team’s main rotation.
LeVert was likely in line to start before Mitchell was brought in, but now becomes an issue that the Cavs need to deal with, and deal with quickly. The Cavs need to trade away Caris LeVert, because his value on this team is stunted and he doesn’t meet their present needs.
Cavs absolutely have to trade Caris LeVert: He doesn’t fit
Caris LeVert is a player of stark strengths and weaknesses. Without dealing in hyperbole, LeVert is an on-ball offensive player with solid scoring and playmaking abilities. He is also a mediocre-at-best 3-point shooter, a bit of a ball-stopper and a 6’6″ sieve on the defensive end.
Given that on-ball creation is the most difficult skill to find in the NBA, making it one of the most valuable, LeVert certainly has value to a lot of teams. Yet the reality is that the Cavs don’t need that skillset as they may have a week ago. Between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs have plenty of on-ball creation and playmaking, with Evan Mobley hoping to develop into that group over time.
Starting LeVert at the 3 would therefore be a disaster. While there is some value to LeVert being able to attack a defense’s weakest perimeter defender, if the ball is in his hands it categorically is out of the hands of this team’s other stars. If LeVert doesn’t have the ball, his poor shooting (31.3 percent from deep last year, 33.3 percent for his career) becomes more of an issue.
What about deploying LeVert off the bench? That’s certainly an option but has multiple drawbacks as well. When Ricky Rubio returns the Cavs will have three high-level guards to rotate, all of whom are better options with the ball in their hands than LeVert. In the playoffs the Cavs would be best off only playing those three on most nights, leaving little room for LeVert. The other issue is that playing LeVert off the bench decreases his trade value, making it harder to move him by the trade deadline.
Cavs absolutely have to trade Caris LeVert: What they need instead
If the Cavs don’t need a player like Caris LeVert, what do they need? Their current starting lineup features two 6’1″ guards with spotty defensive histories and two defensively dominant big men. The opening at small forward is the starting lineup’s only chance at a stopper to take on opposing backcourt players.
The Cavs are also starting two bigs, one of whom doesn’t attempt 3-pointers and one who does so sparingly. The Cavs could absolutely use shooting from the starting small forward spot. For those keeping track at home, that’s defense and 3-point shooting that this team needs in the starting lineup: let’s say they need a “D-and-3” player. Err, maybe 3-and-D has a better ring to it.
Isaac Okoro has the defense part down but not the 3-point shot. Cedi Osman is mediocre at both. Dylan Windler hasn’t proven to be an NBA-quality player. Dean Wade looks like the guy among the current roster players, but the team absolutely needs to look for opportunities to upgrade the 3.
Even if Wade or (more likely) Okoro start, the Cavs need forward options who can shoot and not die on defense, the kind of player they hoped Ochai Agbaji would be. The long-term vision of the bench is Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio running the show, and shooting around them. The problem for Cleveland is there aren’t any anymore, with Lauri Markkanen, Agbaji and Collin Sexton all gone. They need shooting off the bench, ideally with a player who doesn’t capsize on defense.
Adding a starting-level 3 is the best way to meet the Cavs’ needs, but they at least need an upgrade of some kind at small forward, be it as a starter or a bench player. Caris LeVert isn’t that player, but can he be turned into one?
Cavs absolutely have to trade Caris LeVert: Can they do it?
Caris LeVert surely has some value around the league. The Cavs’ reportedly paid as much as they did at February’s trade deadline because they were outbidding other teams like the New York Knicks. His end to the season with the Cavs was rocky, but most of that was injury-related.
The difficulty in moving LeVert is that as a 28-year-old player on an expiring contract, he would be most valuable for a team trying to win. Most of those teams want to keep their two-way wings. Rebuilding teams won’t trade for him, at least not with much return. Of the other group of teams, formerly-rebuilding teams now hoping to win, they tend to be stocked with backcourt players — teams like the Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards.
If the Cavs could attach a sweetener to LeVert’s contract it’s possible they could find something, but they just traded most of their draft capital for Donovan Mitchell. They can offer a few second-round picks, or a player like Dylan Windler or Lamar Stevens, but those don’t move the needle much.
There may be a few potential trades out there, however, and the Cavs need to canvas the league to try to find one. LeVert doesn’t fit with this roster, and his expiring deal and limited role will only reduce his value as the season goes on. The Cavs absolutely need to trade Caris LeVert, and they need to do it soon.