3 Cavaliers players who definitely shouldn’t be back next season

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the second-best net rating in the league this season. They had the best defense, a pair of All-Star guards, and were facing a New York Knicks team that had a hobbled star. They were rightfully favored despite their collective inexperience.

That inexperience reared its head from the start, as did the coaching advantage Tom Thibodeau displayed over J.B. Bickerstaff. The Knicks proved they were ready to battle on the playoff stage, and the Cavaliers just couldn’t find the right adjustments. They were clobbered, battered and outrebounded into a five-game exit.

Perhaps the biggest flaw for the Cavaliers was the depth around their core players. Donovan Mitchell didn’t have a great season, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were outrebounded, but they are here to stay. The Cavs needed someone else to step up and fill out both that fifth and final starting spot and the bench behind them, and the team just couldn’t do it.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have to make changes this summer

Heading into the offseason, the Cavs will need to make changes. They will use their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to add a two-way wing they can hopefully start at small forward; that’s nearly a guarantee. To add players, however, the Cavaliers will need to lose them.

In the end, the Cavs didn’t trust anyone from 6-15 on their roster to play major minutes in the playoffs. That leaves a number of players who could be heading to a different team this summer. Here are three who need to leave the Cavaliers so that Cleveland can build a rotation it trusts in the playoff crucible.