The Cleveland Cavaliers need to figure out what to do with Isaac Okoro.
The fourth-year wing has proven to be an elite defender and a restrictive offensive player, and this year’s playoffs showed that such a player is too unbalanced to play when the games matter the most. Opponents can confidently leave Okoro to constrict the paint, strangling the Cavs’ offensive attack.
In signing Max Strus and re-signing Caris LeVert, the Cavaliers have communicated the pecking order for their wing rotation. Okoro will still get minutes this season, especially because of the need for his on-ball defense, but his role has been marginalized and it’s going to take a huge step forward as a shooter or ball-handler for him to survive as a part of this team’s core.
That means Okoro is almost certainly firmly on the trade block, especially with players like Lamar Stevens and Cedi Osman out the door as trade chips. He is young enough to still have value to rebuilding teams and the Cavs could use him as the salary in a deal to bring back a player who can better help them in the playoffs.
Let’s look at one trade recently pitched and see if this would make sense for Cleveland as a way to upgrade on Okoro.