Cavs Stock Up, Stock Down heading into the playoffs

It’s a fun time to be a Cleveland Cavaliers fan these days. Cleveland is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, and this is a new iteration of the Wine and Gold that’s going to be on the big stage once again.

The Cavaliers will be facing off in the No. 4-No.5 matchup in the first round against the New York Knicks, and it’s going to be a heck of a matchup with plenty of star power. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and company versus Jalen Brunson and potentially Julius Randle (if he can go) has the makings of a long, compelling series, and should be must see TV.

As it pertains to recent weeks, though, there’s still been plenty of intrigue surrounding the Cavs in the closing stretch of the regular season, and with that in mind, we’ll put the spotlight on some individual performers for Cleveland of late.

Here, let’s take a quick glance at Cavs players whose stocks are on the uptick, holding steady and falling heading into the playoffs.

First, there’s three Cavs that have been true standouts of late.

Stock Up: Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Caris LeVert

Mitchell has been terrific for the Cavaliers this season, and has given the team superstar-level play in his first year with the Wine and Gold.

Having said that, he’s been on quite the heater in recent weeks. In Mitchell’s past 10 appearances, he’s posted 31.7 points per game, in which he’s hit 37.6 percent of his three-point attempts. He also in his past four games played hit 40-plus points all four times, which is the first time that’s been done in the NBA since James Harden back in 2018-19.

Mitchell’s three-level scoring, driving prowess and big-time shot-making has been incredible heading into the postseason, and the team feeds off the energy he brings. Plus, he tacked on 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game in that time.

As for the second Cav we mentioned above, Evan Mobley has continued his trend of great play. In Mobley’s past 10 games played, he’s averaged 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per outing, and shot 60.0 percent from the field. In that stretch, he led the team in total plus-minus at plus-79.

In several of those games, he played a bunch at the 5 with Jarrett Allen missing some time with injuries, but it’s nice to see Allen getting healthier of late. Either way, it’s been awesome to watch Mobley so comfortable on both ends of the floor, where his two-way play has been so impactful for the Cavaliers throughout games, and when needed, in crunch time, too.

What’s seemingly a bit lost in the fold has been his growth as a secondary playmaker for Cleveland as well. In that 10-game span we touched on, he had 4.0 assists per contest, to only 0.9 turnovers.

From there, another Cav really trending up recently has been Caris LeVert. LeVert has been making plays at both ends of the floor more as the season has progressed, and going into the postseason, he’s definitely been a difference-maker.

In his past 11 appearances, LeVert had 15.8 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting, and in that time, canned 52.5 percent of his three-point attempts. Along with that, he averaged 3.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds per contest in that stretch, and has led the Cavaliers in total steals with 19.

As he’s been settled in more as predominantly a bench contributor, LeVert has given the Cavs quite a lift, and it’s understandable that he and the team have been rumored to have mutual interest in him potentially being re-signed in the upcoming offseason.