The Cleveland Cavaliers have a lot to look forward to as they prep for the start of their 2024-25 season. They have a new coach in Kenny Atkinson taking over the duties in hopes of leading this squad to new heights and beyond just the first round of the playoffs. They also have a core four of players including Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen who with new blood running the team can be molded into an even more productive force.
However, there are always concerns going into a season and that includes the depth of talent that this team will have to help support that core four and the new coach. The Cavs have a good group of players coming off the bench including Caris Levert, Isaac Okoro, and Dean Wade. After that though the conversations begin among Cavs fans and sometimes it turns to "if only we still had this player or that player on the team.....That got me thinking about players I wish the Cavs had held onto that could have helped more now.
There have been many players that have come and gone from the Cavs over the history of the team. Some of those past players have had much success elsewhere while others have just faded away and never had much more success. When trying to have the best active roster in the league is every team's goal, there will always be a player or two that just don't work out because of the situation at the moment. Let's take a look at 5 players that he Cavs once had on their team that were sent away to soon to other squads that maybe the team could have held onto longer.
No. 1 - Ron Harper
If you want to go way back in time to when the Cavs were firing on all cylinders and had an outstanding team go back to that stretch of teams between 1986 and 1993. They had a core group of players then too that included Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Craig Elho and Hot Rod Williams. They also had Ron Harper at the beginning stages of that era. He was drafted at No. 8 by Cleveland in 1986 after the Cavs had just selected Brad Daugherty at No. 1. Harper was coming from small school Miami of Ohio but that didn't matter as he was an excellent scorer and player. He averaged over 22 PPG in his rookie campaign and continued putting up consistent numbers in his next two seasons.
However, the Cavs would struggle to get by their nemesis in the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, losing to them in the playoffs multiple years. By his fourth season, despite, the team continuing to be successful, in part because of Harper's talents, the Cavs decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Clippers along with a couple first round picks for players Reggie Williams and Danny Ferry. That decision didn't help the Cavs moving forward as they never could win an NBA Championship.
On the other hand Harper prospered as a player, eventually landing back in Chicago with the Bulls in 1994. With the Bulls Harper ended up winning three NBA Titles. He then moved onto the Los Angeles Lakers where he won two more NBA Championships.