The player the Cleveland Cavaliers cannot trade away

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a number of players they don’t want to trade away. They are solidly at the top of the Eastern Conference this season with all four tentpole stars contributing at a high level. Donovan Mitchell is on track to make an All-NBA Team, and the rest of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are top 50 players in the league, young and on good contracts.

When a team is playing really well and has a reasonable chance at reaching the NBA Finals it’s essentially unheard of to trade one of their key pieces. The Golden State Warriors didn’t trade Klay Thompson or Draymond Green when they were reaching the NBA Finals year after year; the Boston Celtics aren’t letting Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown go anywhere, especially not at the NBA Trade Deadline.

What are the odds that the Cavaliers trade Donovan Mitchell, or Evan Mobley, or any of their core? So close to zero that they are impossible to see. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s technically impossible, just functionally very unlikely. If the Milwaukee Bucks called and offered Giannis Antetokounmpo for Kevin Love and Darius Garland, the Cavs might say yes – and more important for our conversation here, they could choose to say yes.

The Cleveland Cavaliers cannot trade this one player on the roster.

Whatever is likely or unlikely to happen, nearly every player on the roster could be traded for the right deal. Players like Ricky Rubio, Robin Lopez and Raul Neto became eligible to be traded back on December 15th, and just today another wave of players became available after signing new deals this offseason:

Additionally, three players will join the group of players eligible to be traded over the next week, which leaves only nine players in the entire league who are prohibited from being included in a trade until the 2023 offseason. These players may or may not be players their team would want to trade, but according to the CBA and the rules of the league, they can’t be traded. The list includes one member of the Cleveland Cavaliers:

On September 27, 2022 the Cavaliers and Dean Wade agreed to a contract extension. After spending the first four seasons of his career riding non-guaranteed minimum deals Wade secured his first major paycheck, inking a three-year, $18 million deal to stay with the Cavs through the 2025-26 season.

League rules require a player signing an extension not to be traded for six months after signing the extension, which for Wade would land past the February Trade Deadline. That means that no matter the offer, the Cavs cannot move Wade until this summer.

It’s highly unlikely they would want to, though, given that Dean Wade might be this team’s best path to a 3-and-D starter at the 3. The former Kansas State star has developed his 3-point shot and hit 41.1 percent this season before injuries sidelined him. He’s also a strong and rugged defender the Cavs have no qualms about defending opposing forwards.

The extension he signed is incredibly team-friendly, too. There is a great chance Wade is worth much more than that number for much of the contract; even with his injury absences this season he’s been worth the minimum deal he is currently making. It’s highly unlikely that the Cavs would get enough back for Wade to make the deal worth it.

It’s therefore something of a moot point, but it’s important for fans of the Cavaliers to keep in mind as they are thinking of potential trades to improve the team. Wade will be back soon from injury, fits this team perfectly and literally, unequivocally cannot be traded this season.