Which Cavs players will be eligible to be traded on Dec 15?

NBA trade season technically stretches for eight months of the year, from the cessation of the NBA Finals through to the February Trade Deadline. With that being the case, it is relatively rare for NBA trades to actually happen from the start of training camp through the first two months of the season. The Cavs have logged a number of trades under the current regime but only one came early in a season, the truly unique James Harden trade from the off-kilter 2020-21 season.

Trades happen in a flurry around the time of the NBA Draft and through the first weeks of free agency, then die down leading into the year. Then they pick back up a couple of months into the season and increase in frequency right up to the Trade Deadline itself in February. Why the uptick in mid-December?

That’s because at this point in the league calendar players who signed a new free-agent deal in the offseason become eligible to be traded. This season that falls on December 15th, at which point 74 players will join the pool of players eligible to be traded. The unofficial start to trade season, in other words, is this Thursday.

The Cavs are one of many teams who will see their 2022 free agent signings become available to trade on December 15th.

We discussed a few of those 74 players yesterday, highlighting three trade candidates who will be available starting on Dec 15. What about on the Cavs’ roster? Let’s list out those players who will become eligible to be traded on Thursday, and then rank them according to how likely they are to be traded.