Troy Brown Jr. would be intriguing under the radar wing target for Cavs

Brown can knock open threes down, and might have more to his game

During the regular season, Brown connected on a career-best 38.1 percent of his overall three-point attempts, on a career-high 3.7 attempts per contest. He hit 35.3 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc with Chicago in 2021-22, for what it’s worth.

Brown’s shooting stroke has gotten better over the course of his career, and if he were a target for Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell or others as a catch-and-shoot player, he can knock those down when open. On wide-open three-point attempts in the past two regular seasons, he’s connected on 41.9 percent and previously 42.9 percent of those, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

Whether or not Brown were to be regularly starting for the Cavs in this scenario, he could carry his quality catch-and-shoot play forward, and he has shown the capability to make some plays to counter hard closeouts.

So, with the defensive on-ball and playmaking abilities in mind, combined with shot-making strides, Brown would be a nice under the radar free agency target for Cleveland.

Now, this isn’t to say that the Cavs shouldn’t look to add another wing, or potentially involve Okoro, Cedi Osman and/or others in a deal for a starting 3 upgrade via trade, but Brown could definitely be a valuable three-and-D piece to have.

He also is a player that, if given the opportunity, could have some untapped creation in store for years ahead, if given the chances. He’ll be 24 in the 2023-24 season; perhaps there’s more to come there, considering his shooting growth. As we mentioned before, Brown is a gifted finisher as well, thanks to his athleticism, body control and improved cutting feel.

Maybe Brown looks elsewhere or eventually re-signs with the Lakers, who look ultra-dangerous right now with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way. With the Cavs, though, it seems possible that he might have a bigger role looking onward, with Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, if he’s re-signed, in the fold, among others.

Given the circumstances, it’d be great to see the Cavaliers sign Brown via some of the roughly $12.2 million nontaxpayer Mid-Level Exception in free agency, via multi-year deal with say, the third season partially-guaranteed. Brown has been on a minimum contract this season, however, so that’s conceivably another option as essentially a prove-it deal.