The Cleveland Cavaliers will probably make an upgrade by the NBA Trade Deadline in February. They tend to make an in-season trade every season, be that Caris LeVert last year, Jarrett Allen the year before, dating all the way back to Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson in the last season of LeBron James’ second term as King of Cleveland.
Koby Altman will therefore likely do so again this season, so the question turns from “if” to “who” in sussing out what will happen. Do the Cavs target a movement shooter, a 3-and-D wing, or a stretch big? Perhaps they can try to approximate all three by pursuing a Croatian scorer who is having a great season for a bad team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers could pull off this trade for a Croatian scorer and meet multiple needs.
Bojan Bogdanovic is back in the Central Division with the Detroit Pistons, after stints in Brooklyn, Washington, Indiana and Utah. He has developed into an excellent shooter, hitting 40.9 percent of his 3-pointers, and overall having the best scoring season of his career. He’s putting up 20.9 points per game and has only missed one game this season.
The Pistons might posture about keeping him around, but as they make themselves comfortable at the bottom of the standings it makes sense to move Bogdanovic and get back whatever value they can for him. If the Cavaliers were to jump into the fray, what would such a trade look like?
Cavs add scorer in trade proposal: What’s the trade?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are somewhat limited in the assets available to them. They can’t trade an outright first-round pick, and the one swap available to them in 2024 doesn’t offer much value to the Detroit Pistons as they will likely still be in the lottery while the Cavs compete at the top.
What the Cavs can offer are a few second-round picks, and more important a useful veteran in Caris LeVert who (1) matches Bogdanovic’ salary almost perfectly, and (2) fits a big need on the Pistons while being somewhat redundant on the Cavs.
The Detroit Pistons are without Cade Cunningham for the rest of the season, and their other options as ball handlers are either mediocre or downright disastrous (the spectrum between Cory Joseph and Killian Hayes). This is a team that doesn’t want to completely flop the rest of the way, and one that could use Caris LeVert’s on-ball scoring and playmaking this season and potentially beyond.
If the Pistons don’t value LeVert, this deal has to become a three-teamer because all the Cavs have to offer are their seconds. The 2023 pick belongs to Golden State, so it should land closer to the middle of the draft than the Cavs’ selection. This would squeeze out much of the Cavs’ remaining assets so it would be hard for Detroit to ask for more from Cleveland; it would either be this deal or another team.
Cavs add scorer in trade proposal: Grade the Trade
Bojan Bogdanovic is a really talented offensive player, the kind of guy who can score off of movement and off the dribble, with a potent outside jumper and a bag of tricks inside, especially against smaller players. If he started at the 3 for the Cavs he could routinely feast on smaller wings trying to defend him.
The defense is certainly more of a question mark for Bogdanovic. He is a decent on-ball defender and can use his strength in certain matchups, but he gets caught in traffic off-ball and doesn’t provide much of any secondary rim protection. Adding and starting Bogdanovic instead of Dean Wade or Lamar Stevens would be a downgrade defensively, although obviously a huge upgrade on offense.
Bogdanovic makes $19.55 million this season and just over $39 million combined over the next two seasons, very reasonable money for a player who can put up 20 per game. The Cavs likely won’t let Caris LeVert and Kevin Love both walk in free agency, so they aren’t going to be cap space players. Flipping LeVert for a player under contract is a good use of money.
Bogdanovic can help relieve pressure on the backcourt to score, spaces the court at an elite level and opens up some of the sets the Cavs did run or designed to run with Lauri Markkanen. In a better defensive ecosystem, he could play better as a 1-on-1 defender. LeVert is a solid player but he is very redundant on this roster, so flipping him for a different kind of scorer makes sense.
Grade: A-