The Cleveland Cavaliers are not afraid to move on from players.
That can extend even to the team's current core; the front office has stuck with these four players over the last three seasons, resisting calls to break them up -- but they have done plenty of tinkering with the rest of the roster, and Donovan Mitchell is only in Cleveland because the Cavs acted boldly in moving on from other players to bring him in.
Some of those decisions to move on from players have turned out to be the right call, including those moves in recent years to build the current roster. Which players have the team moved on from at just the right time? Which moves -- whether on the trade market or in free agency -- look even better with the benefit of hindsight?
Let's look at a few moves from the last 15 years of the Cleveland Cavaliers and highlight which players the team moved on from at exactly the right time -- starting with their most recent deal.
No. 1: Isaac Okoro
The Cavaliers traded Isaac Okoro this offseason to the Chicago Bulls for veteran guard Lonzo Ball. The franchise invested a lot in Okoro, drafting him No. 5 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft -- a move that certainly looks like a mistake in hindsight -- and putting him in the starting lineup for years despite a failure to deliver on that expectation.
Okoro is being paid eight figures in each of the next two seasons, only shoots from 3-point range when he is wide open and brings little else to the team on offense. His on-ball defense is valuable, but he doesn't have the size or length to capably defend larger wings and forwards. The need around the league for guard defenders who can't play backup point guard or guard up the positional spectrum is low.
Yet the Cavaliers managed to find a team that was looking for that sort of player, as the Bulls sent an arguably better player in Lonzo Ball on inarguably a better contract. Wait another 6 months and the Cavaliers would likely be paying a team to take on Okoro's salary; instead, they flipped him for a player who fits better and makes them a better team than before. That is excellent timing on the part of Koby Altman and company.
NEXT: The Promised One