The Cleveland Cavaliers have a glaring hole in the roster. While they have a pair of premier guards in Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, and a pair of elite defensive bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, they have struggled all season to find an option at small forward.
Isaac Okoro is too small and not enough of a floor-spacer (recent late-game heroics notwithstanding). Lamar Stevens is a negative floor spacer. Dean Wade…well, it’s not clear why Dean Wade isn’t starting at the 3. Cedi Osman is too inconsistent offensively and too weak defensively. Caris LeVert just overlaps with the guards too much.
Should the Cleveland Cavaliers make a big trade to upgrade the 3?
What the Cavaliers could most use is a true 3-and-D wing to plug in at the 3; Danny Green five years ago, perhaps. Unfortunately for Cleveland, everyone wants more of those players, and they don’t come cheap. They don’t have any first-round picks to trade, and signing one for the mid-level exception this summer will likely mean getting in line with the rest of the league.
There is a more nuclear option, one that involves trading one of their current stars for a high-end small forward. That would allow their depth to fill in at another position and give them a more balanced starting lineup. The popular trade site Fanspo recently put together such a deal, flipping a beloved member of the core for a forward.
Let’s look at the details of the trade, and then see if anyone on either side would want to make it.