As the Cleveland Cavaliers take a week off for the All-Star Break, we have time to look back at this point last season. The Cavs spent the 2022 All-Star Break celebrating their two young All-Stars and all of the pomp of hosting the event in Cleveland, with a team well ahead of expectations and on track to make the playoffs.
To help with that final push the Cavs added Indiana Pacers swingman Caris LeVert at the NBA Trade Deadline a year ago. He was supposed to step in as the replacement for the injured Collin Sexton and be the secondary creator beside Darius Garland. That didn’t quite happen, as an injury to Jarrett Allen tore a hole in their defense and LeVert struggled with injuries himself.
The Cavaliers lost just enough games down the stretch to land in the Play-In Tournament and lose without making the eight-team playoff field. LeVert is now just a few months away from hitting free agency and is coming off the bench for one of the best teams in the East.
How does the Caris LeVert trade look one year later?
With the benefit of hindsight, let’s look back at that deal a year later. What has worked with the LeVert – Cleveland pairing, and what has not? Finally, we’ll give a final verdict on the trade that we initially graded a “B-” when it first happened. How will it come out today?
Regrading Cavaliers trade for LeVert: What has worked
Around the league, a number of contending teams looked to offload players who were a poor fit and were playing poorly. From Russell Westbrook to John Wall to Jae Crowder, teams trying to win felt they had to move certain players.
The first and most tangible point in LeVert’s favor is that the Cleveland Cavaliers kept him around. For whatever we say next, they valued his presence on this team now and the possibility to re-signing the pending free agent over whatever he was worth on the trade market.
Caris LeVert has fit right in with this team in the locker room and seems to be a genuine part of the group with perhaps the best chemistry in the entire NBA. If you are ranking teams with the best “vibes” you probably start with the Cavs and end with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 30th.
LeVert’s 3-point shot has been better than in previous stops, as he is hitting 36.4 percent this season from beyond the arc. He has set a new career high in defensive win-shares (by far) and his Defensive Box Plus-Minus (BPM) is tied for his career best. He has bought into his role on defense, and he amicably worked with the coaching staff to move to the bench and has been all-in as a bench weapon this season.
Regrading Cavaliers trade for LeVert: What hasn’t worked
Caris LeVert was acquired at the deadline, for the cost of a lottery-protected first-round pick and a premium second that ended up being Andrew Nembhard. The reason the Cavaliers pushed that many chips in is that they wanted a player that could help them make the playoffs last season and be a part of their core moving forward.
The first goal was not achieved, in part because LeVert struggled with an ankle injury he sustained almost immediately upon joining the team. Then this season began and LeVert was given first crack at the starting small forward job. That worked while Darius Garland was out with injury, but when everyone was healthy it quickly became clear that he was not the player the Cavs needed in that spot.
The Cavs have used Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens as starters instead, all players who are significantly less expensive than LeVert and ostensibly less talented. The reason is that each can fill off-ball roles in an offensive attack featuring Mitchell and Garland, two of the league’s best with the ball in their hands. Add in Evan Mobley, and LeVert is the fourth option on offense. His off-ball skills are too limited, and his defense too average, for him to make sense with the starters.
While his 3-point shot has fallen at an average clip this year he isn’t adding true value there, and his 2-point shooting has absolutely cratered this year to a career-worst 44.2 percent. He was always going to be best deployed as a Sixth Man off the bench because his value comes from handling the ball as a decent playmaker; the Cavs just don’t have a need for that with Mitchell aboard, as either Mitchell or Garland are on the court at all times.
Regrading Cavaliers trade for LeVert: Final Verdict
LeVert’s best moments have come when one of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland have been out injured. His redundancy for the Cavs has been valuable this season, and at times he has put up big stat lines in relief. He has also had games where his only contributions were missed shots and turnovers as he tried to play hard in his limited minutes.
There are ways this pairing could have worked out worse. LeVert could be calling it in on defense, but instead is genuinely bought in and playing hard on that end, even if he’s not a good technical defender. He hasn’t chafed at his role, and while his shot selection isn’t optimum he isn’t trying to hijack the offense, either.
There is also a path not taken where this worked out better. If the Cavaliers had moved on from Collin Sexton but not traded for Donovan Mitchell, LeVert could have been a reasonable running mate for Darius Garland. But therein lies the rub: the Cavs invested multiple picks in a player who was only ever going to raise their floor, not their ceiling, and to get where they want to go he was going to become redundant and/or marginalized.
The Cavaliers should have never made the trade; that was fairly obvious at the time, even as the paths for it to work were still in view. Now they’re gone, and the Cavs need to move on from Caris LeVert this summer rather than committing a large contract to keep him around. The Cavs are making moves now to refine a contender, and LeVert’s value to a different team will be much higher.
Regrade: C