Grade the Trade: Could Cavaliers land Nets wing after Durant deal?

The Cleveland Cavaliers keep signaling that they plan to sit out the NBA Trade Deadline. They have talked about how they like their team, they want to re-sign Caris LeVert, they trust in Isaac Okoro, and so on. That’s all likely true, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t make a deal for the right player.

A big reason the Cavs were likely to stay quiet is that the options on the trade market weren’t that enticing. Players that could reasonably start for the Cavs were probably too expensive, since the Cavaliers used all of their firsts trading for LeVert and Donovan Mitchell. The players at their price point weren’t going to move the needle in the playoffs.

The Cleveland Cavaliers could be back in business after the Kevin Durant trade.

That suddenly changed on Wednesday night, when the Brooklyn Nets traded Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. In an instant the Nets went from a contender to a team hoarding wings and shooters to make a playoff push, to selling those players to recoup assets. The Nets won’t outright tank moving forward, but this year it behooves them to sell off anything of value and maximize their pick.

That means that a new group of players is suddenly available to the Cavs on the trade market. Could one of the Nets’ wings fit the need for Cleveland and fall within their price range? It’s possible, so let’s take a look at one potential construction.