Player 3 – R.J. Hampton
Considering that R.J. Hampton is only 22 years old, the fact that he has played for three different teams already is crazy to think about. He played for Denver in his rookie year, then got shipped off during the 2020-21 trade deadline to Orlando for Aaron Gordon to finish off his rookie season. Then, last season, he was waived by the Magic and finished off the 2022-23 season with the Detroit Pistons. However, he was waived by the Pistons and is now a free agent.
Hampton was the 24th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and I personally thought he would go higher than that. In his lone season overseas, Hampton averaged 15.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per 36 minutes. However, his assist/turnover ratio wasn’t amazing, as he also averaged 2.7 turnovers. Furthermore, his outside shooting has never really came into fruition in the NBA, as he’s been a career 34.2 percent shooter from deep. His career 68.0 percent from the free-throw line isn’t promising, either.
However, I view Hampton as more of a combo guard more so than a point guard, so I don’t expect his playmaking to be amazing. He’s been a good scorer, as he’s averaged 7.1 points per game in his three-year career.
He’s not an amazing defender, but considering the Cavs already have great defenders on the team, if Hampton could just hold his own on defense, I think he’d be fine. The guard rotation on the Cavs is still pretty filled, but considering the backup point guard competition is really just Ricky Rubio and Ty Jerome, I think that Hampton could be a sneaky pickup to be the Cavs’ backup point guard.
Hampton still has a ton of potential as well, so if he were to be signed, it would be a move for the future, too. As I said, he is still only 22 years old, so he still has a great NBA career ahead of him. I don’t think that his career in the NBA is over just yet, and the Cavaliers could sign him, considering that he doesn’t seem to have a lot of suitors as of now.
The Cavs’ roster is still very young, but if Cleveland were to sign a young player maybe could find a player that they could have in their core for years to come. All of the players I mentioned still have a lot of potential, and surely could give the Cavaliers a boost.