Last offseason, the biggest move the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to make was reeling in Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz. Sure, it did cost a plethora of first-round picks, the 14th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft (Ochai Agbaji), Lauri Markkanen, and Collin Sexton. This was a huge win-win for both sides. Cleveland got a young superstar to compete with while Utah got an All-Star and solid rotational pieces, plus a lot of draft capital.
Let’s also not forget that the Cavs re-signed both Darius Garland to a max contract and Dean Wade to a solid contract himself, both looking to stay long-term in Cleveland. Both of those contracts were well-deserved, and Wade’s contract is a steal considering how talented and underrated he is.
Also, the Cavs brought back Ricky Rubio in free agency and signed both Raul Neto and Robin Lopez to Cleveland on minimum deals to help out the bench. At the time of writing this article, it looks like Rubio will be set to play against Portland on Thursday, his first game back since tearing his ACL over a year ago.
Lastly, we have small moves, like signing Mamadi Diakite and Isaiah Mobley to two-way contracts. Also, they drafted Khalifa Diop 39th overall and Luke Travers 58th, but he is currently stashed overseas. Nothing against any of these players, but I don’t think we’ve seen enough play out of any three of these guys to really give a grade to these moves in the offseason.
Let’s take a look at all of these moves as the season starts heading into the NBA All-Star break.