No. 3: Kevin Porter Jr.
It is true that Kevin Porter Jr. has resurrected his career with the Milwaukee Bucks, putting up robust stat lines down the stretch of last season and parlaying that into a new deal and potentially a starting spot with the Bucks. His journey to get there, however, included suspensions and waivers and some troubling domestic charges.
The Cavaliers moved on from Porter at the first signs of trouble, flipping him to the Houston Rockets for a second-round pick. Perhaps the franchise could have tried to rehabillitate him sooner, but it seems clear that Porter was heading for a path fraught with peril. Cleveland traded him before he was truly radioactive and got an asset in return, however small.
No. 4: Marcus Morris
The Cleveland Cavaliers signed Marcus Morris as their final player heading into the playoffs in 2024, and he ended up playing real rotation minutes as the Cavaliers battled injuries. He played in nine of their 14 games that postseason, shot well from 3-point range and played active defense.
Even with that run of competence, the Cavaliers elected not to bring Morris back on a new deal this past summer. That move turned out to be a shrewd one, as Morris had so little left in the tank that he couldn't even find an NBA job on any team. The New York Knicks brought him into training camp and subsequently waived him; he still has not signed another NBA deal.
The Cavaliers rightfully saw past a few games of hot shooting and realized the entire package -- skillset, age and the person himself -- was not worth keeping around.
NEXT: The Man in the Middle