Ranking the Cleveland Cavaliers’ top 3 trade targets

Trade target No. 2: Josh Green, Dallas Mavericks

If Royce O’Neale has been a player frequently attached to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Josh Green is at the opposite end of the spectrum. He is a player that the Dallas Mavericks clearly value and isn’t an obvious candidate to be traded, but if he’s made available he makes a lot of sense for the Cavaliers.

The 22-year-old from Australia is currently playing for The Boomers at the FIBA World Cup and profiles as a key player for the Mavericks next season, whether he starts at the 3 or comes off the bench. He is a good athlete and strong defender, and last season he improved as a shooter to 40.2 percent. If that improvement sticks he profiles as a 3-and-D player with upside.

The problem is that his shot was coming from the basement (he shot 16 percent as a rookie and 56.5 percent from the free-throw line). Green is also just 6’5″ so he’s not solving the Cavs’ size problem at the 3. His skillset is intriguing and he still has room to grow, but it’s unclear if he’s just a different version of Isaac Okoro.

It’s also not clear how and why the Mavericks would give him up. In the article on Bleacher Report the author writes that Green is “a likely trade candidate should the Dallas Mavericks do anything major.” Is Green the centerpiece of a trade for Jarrett Allen? That seems fraught as the Cavs would only be getting smaller and Green doesn’t look like a surefire starter. He could be a good fit and his age fits their timeline better than O’Neale, but the cost is much more of a question mark.