Cavs News: Mobley churning along, trade target mentioned, Turner extension

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s good to know that they’ll be back at home in the friendly confines of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for a few games. The Cavaliers will be looking to rebound from dropping two of three on the road this week, with their last game consisting of a fourth quarter dud at the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

The Cavs didn’t have Donovan Mitchell in their Thursday-Friday back-to-back, which didn’t help, but he might be back tonight, which would make a big difference as the group tries to get back on track. Admittedly, though, the Cavaliers have been an up-and-down bunch for the last month or so, and they still have glaring issues on the road.

Injuries haven’t helped, however, they’re getting closer to near-full-strength, and hopefully Mitchell is back soon enough as February and the All-Star break looms, and as we get deeper into the season.

More Cavs news

The Cavaliers fell off in the second half on Friday night against an up-and-coming Thunder team that’s been playing good basketball, but that shouldn’t diminish how Evan Mobley had another strong outing. He had 23 points on nine-of-18 shooting, and hit both three-point shots he attempted, which was a welcomed change from what’s often occurred in recent weeks.

Even with the deep shooting woes for him, Mobley has been playing really well, and it’s been nice to see him be assertive lately, and feasibly since the turn of the year. He was getting to his spots on Friday, attacking on drives, and his defense often speaks for itself.

Again, the second half loss was less than ideal on Friday, but what Mobley has been doing shouldn’t be glossed over, even with the Cavaliers’ inconsistencies on the road. In his last 11 games, he’s averaged 19.1 points per contest on 58.3 percent shooting, to go with 8.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 blocks. In that OKC game, he recorded his 1000th career rebound, too, which was a neat tidbit from that one, and his positioning there has improved over the course of the year.

It’s long been rumored that the Cavaliers have been seeking wing help via trade, and it would not be surprising to see the Wine and Gold make a move in that area by the league’s Feb. 9 trade deadline. The Cavs have been linked to players such as Bojan Bogdanovic, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley, among others, and recently, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweeted this out on Friday.

Josh Hart is reportedly a player that the Portland Trail Blazers are “open to discussing” in possible deals, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports. Fischer mentioned in said report that Jusuf Nurkic is another as well in the same boat on Portland’s end.

Hart is not the shooter of some of those other names we touched on as rumored potential targets for Cleveland, but he would provide a perimeter defensive boost, some additional shot creation and he’s a great rebounder. So, for now, that’s a name one can add to the theoretical list of possible wing targets for the Cavs as we get closer to the deadline.

NBA news

One of the biggest news headlines to come around the league yesterday was it being announced that Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers agreed to terms on a two-year, $60 million contract extension for him, per a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. In addition to that, $17 million was added to Turner’s contract for this season in a renegotiation, per Wojnarowski’s report.

Turner has long been mentioned as a player that could be dealt with the deadline around the corner, and he’s been a player continually involved in trade rumors, so this was kind of out of left field it seemed. The renegotiation for the rest of the season was a shocker as well, and this should take Turner off the market for this deadline at least.

Now down the road perhaps is a different story, but either way, with the constant Turner rumors throughout the season, that news had to have thrown Pacers fans for a loop. He’s a fine player but given their outlook, that was not something one could’ve anticipated.

Next up: The Cavaliers will take on the Clippers at home on Sunday night, as we touched on.