The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good shooting team. They certainly aren’t an elite one, not with multiple non-shooters throughout the rotation, but they have some real firepower launching 3-pointers. Kevin Love is one of the most prolific stretch-bigs in the league and both Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell are gifted pull-up shooters.
The problem for the Cavs is that their shooters fall in one of two buckets, either spotting up or pulling up. That leaves one category largely unfilled, that of movement shooters. These are guys whose shot is so versatile that they can catch, turn and shoot even while sprinting around screens.
The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have a movement shooter anymore.
The Cavs have been trying to get a movement shooter for years now. They drafted Ochai Agbaji in the 2022 NBA Draft to be that player, but he was included in the Donovan Mitchell trade and is starting to turn it on for the Utah Jazz. Lauri Markkanen was the closest thing they had last season, and he is in Utah as well.
We’ve discussed a couple of different shooters that could be available at the NBA Trade Deadline, but there is one recently linked to the Cavaliers that we should discuss. The San Antonio Spurs are in an all-out rebuild, and as such should be moving their extraneous veterans. One such player is Doug McDermott, a player who the Cavs reportedly have asked after.
Could the Cavs land the “Southwest Shooter”? Let’s take a look.
Building a Cavs trade for Doug McDermott
Doug McDermott has a long history of impressive shooting, going back to his days at Creighton as one of college basketball’s top scorers and throughout his eight-year career. He has hit 791 3-pointers for his career at 41 percent. If the Cavs are looking for a shooter he can certainly claim that.
To match the salary of McDermott, who makes $13.75 million this season, the Cavs have to trade Cedi Osman along with Dylan Windler. Given that McDermott is probably overpaid for this season and is owed the same next season the Spurs will need to send a second-round pick to the Cavs in exchange for Osman.
Dylan Windler is on an expiring contract, so the Spurs can either re-sign him for pennies in restricted free agency or let him walk. Cedi Osman can actually play defense, something no one has excused McDermott of, and he makes just $6.72 million next year, giving the Spurs more salary flexibility to take on bad money.
Is this deal worth it for the Cavaliers?
Doug McDermott is a much better shooter than Cedi Osman, indeed than most of the Cavaliers’ roster, and would fill a need on this roster. On the other hand, he’s a worse defender and will make building defensively viable lineups a difficult task.
Making this trade means two things. First, it means that the Cavs don’t expect to add a higher-level shooter. If the Cavaliers trade for Bojan Bogdanovic, Malik Beasley or Tim Hardaway Jr. they won’t need to add McDermott.
Secondly, it means the Cavs don’t have cap space plans for this summer. Committing to McDermott’s salary means the Cavs will have negligible cap space. They are most likely to bring back Kevin Love, Caris LeVert or both anyway and stay over the cap, but turning Cedi Osman and Dylan Windler into McDermott means that will be all but certain.
This trade doesn’t look like a game-changer, but it would fill a need. When you factor in McDermott’s defensive shortcomings and his salary for next season, this looks like one trade the Cavs are unlikely to make.